V *■  - 


A GLIMPSE 


AT  THE 

ART  OF  JAPAN 


BY 


JAMES  JACKSON  JARVES 


AUTHOR  OF  “aRT  STUDIES,”  “ART  IDEA,”  “ ART  THOUGHTS,”  ETC.;  HONORARY 
MEMBER  OF  THE  ACADEMY  OF  FINE  ARTS,  FLORENCE,  ITALY,  ETC.,  ETC. 


“At  nostri  occhi  Vartista  o 6 vn  sacerdote  sublime , o non 
& che  un  ciarlatano  pixi  o meno  esperto — Mazzini 


NEW  YORK 

PUBLISHED  BY  HURD  AND  HO^JGHTON 
Camftrftge:  Clje 

1876 


Copyright,  1875,  by  James  Jackson  Jabves. 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED. AND  PRINTED  BT 
H.  0.  HOUGHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


To 


H.  D.  J. 

AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED 
BY 


J.  J.  J. 


PREFACE. 


This  .small  volume  is  what  its  title  says,  — a 
brief  look,  for  the  reader , at  the  art  in  question.  As 
regards  the  writer,  however,  it  is  the  gist  of  ideas  and 
facts  of  several  years’  study  and  experience,  becom- 
ing more  intense  with  time  and  reflection.  His  pur- 
pose is  not  to  give,  even  if  competent,  a dry  nomen- 
clature of  dates,  names,  varieties,  and  localities  of 
manufacturers,  lists  of  trade-marks,  artists  and  arti- 
sans, and  like  data,  interesting  and  useful  in  them- 
selves, especially  to  collectors.  To  do  this,  besides  a 
knowledge  of  Chinese  and  the  two  written  languages 
of  Japan,  one  must  make  a special  study  of  the  num- 
berless ciphers  and  inscriptions,  which  are  found  on 
many  of  the  better  objects,  to  distinguish  their  makers 
or  places  of  fabrication.  A general  critic  has  not 
time  for  this  investigation  ; it  is  not  necessary,  either, 
for  the  author’s  aim,  which  is  psychological  and 
aesthetic,  rather  than  realistic  and  statistical.  He 
wishes  to  detect  beauty  and  truth  under  all  guises, 
believing  that  the  character  more  than  the  mechanism 
of  any  art  confers  the  highest  pleasure,  and  is  the 
most  profitable  to  know.  Besides,  the  Japanese 


2 


PREFACE. 


guard  with  great  care  their  technical  secrets.  They 
will  not  commit  to  paper  knowledge  which  might 
lead  to  the  loss  of  their  artistic  or  industrial  monop- 
olies. In  one  of  their  treatises  they  frankly  say  the 
“ painting  and  gilding  of  vases  are  secrets  which  it  is 
not  permitted  to  be  disclosed;”  also,  the  making  of 
their  inimitable  bronzes,  lacquer,  etc.  In  prying  into 
these  things,  a stranger  is  more  likely  to  be  misled 
than  put  on  the  right  track,  from  motives  appreciable 
to  every  manufacturer. 

We  all  admired  what  was  lovely  or  characteristic 
in  the  famous  Henri  Deux  ware,  or  faience  d ’ Oiron , 
long  before  our  curiosity  was  satisfied  by  the  discovery 
of  how  and  where  it  was  made.  Doubtless  we  should 
have  gone  on  admiring  it,  possibly  even  more  than 
now,  had  the  mystery  of  its  fabrication  never  been 
broken ; for  the  romance  of  the  unknown  and  un- 
knowable would  have  steadily  increased  its  aesthetic 
glow  in  susceptible  imaginations. 

Somewhat  of  a similar  mystery  is  likely  always  to 
surround  a great  deal  of  the  art  of  the  Orient  in  occi- 
dental minds.  No  idealisms,  human  or  material, 
will  bear  too  analytical  a scrutiny  on  a purely  real- 
istic basis,  without  loss  of  some  of  their  fine  intel- 
lectual down,  which,  like  the  bloom  of  luscious  fruit, 
or  the  faintest  blush  of  maiden  cheek,  lifts  the  senses 
above  an  anatomical  range  of  sight  into  the  ethereal 
spheres  of  omniscient  beauty,  and  suggests  that  which 
is  superior  to  the  cravings  of  carnal  appetite.  With- 
out disparaging  those  studies  which  peer  into  the 


PREFACE. 


8 


glazes  of  pottery,  the  patinas  of  bronzes,  secrets  of 
coloring  and  substance,  epochs  of  invention,  or  any 
technical  knowledge  whatsoever,  the  writer  cares  more 
to  lead  others  to  enjoy,  as  he  does,  the  purely  aesthetic 
features  of  art,  and  to  unravel  the  tangled  skeins  of 
thought  which  have  led  to  the  development  of  its 
various  mental  phases.  He  is  an  enthusiast  by  con- 
viction as  well  as  feeling  in  these  matters ; and  be- 
lieves, unless  he  was  one,  it  would  be  worse  than 
useless  to  write  on  art  in  any  form.  His  desire  is  to 
be  explicit,  direct,  and  intelligible,  without  overflow- 
ing into  word-painting  or  profound  theorizing,  which 
is  the  province  of  abler  pens.  If  he  has  been  toler- 
ably clear  in  presenting  the  fundamental  principles 
and  facts  of  his  topic,  thereby  rendering  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  who  love  Japanese  art  more  thorough 
and  orderly,  he  will  have  succeeded  in  his  wish,  and 
all  the  more,  should  his  readers  make  Japanese  art, 
as  he  does,  their  familiar,  household  friend. 

The  orthography  of  Japanese  proper  names  varies 
considerably  among  writers,  but  the  author  has  fol- 
lowed those  who  seem  to  be  the  best  authority ; and 
the  objects  described  or  engraved  are  chiefly  taken 
from  his  own  little  collection.  It  has  been  the  un- 
expected interest  shown  in  the  few  slight  sketches  of 
Japanese  art,  which  he  published  in  English  and 
American  journals  several  years  ago,  that  has  led 
to  this  fuller  treatment  of  the  topic. 


Flokence,  July , 1875. 


CONTENTS- 


SECTION  I. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL  AND  MATERIAL  BASIS  AND  HISTORICAL  ORIGIN  OF 
THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 

PAOE 

Art  Inquiry 13 

Office  of  Art  13 

A New  World 14 

Japan  or  Nipon  . • 14 

New  Ideals  and  New  Rules  . 14 

A New  Lesson  14 

Preparation  needed  for  Oriental  Art 15 

The  True  Artistic  Instinct 16 

Local  Stamp  of  European  Schools 16 

What  is  Fatal  to  Artistic  Thought 16 

What  not  to  look  for  in  Japanese  Art 17 

Japanese  Ideal 18 

Ideal  Ugliness 19 

How  their  Gods  and  Heroes  impress 19 

How  Grecian  Forms  impress  the  Japanese 20 

A Japanese  Belle 20 

Architecture  Unknown 21 

Temple  held  second  to  the  Tomb 21 

The  Fine  Arts  in  Japan 22 

New  Sensations 23 

Favorable  Conditions  of  Japan 23 

Bear  Worship 24 

Japanese  Isolation  and  Independence 24 

Object  of  Japanese  Polity 25 

Genealogies  of  the  Mikados  and  Deities 26 

Religious  Toleration 27 

No  Ritual  Monopolism 27 

The  Barriers  of  Exclusion  thrown  down,  and  why  ....  28 

The  Elements  of  Japanese  Art 29 

Land  of  Great  Peace 30 

Japanese  Morals  and  Habits 30 

Criminal  Statistics 31 

Kamism,  or  Shintoism 32 

Moral  Significance  of  Kamism 34 

Fostered  Sympathy  with  Nature 35 


CONTENTS.  5 

How  Art  affects  the  Religious  Temperament 36 

Introduction  of  Buddhism  and  Effect  on  Kamism  . . . .37 

Kirin  and  Koma-Inow 38 

Destruction  of  Idols 38 

Introduction  of  Doctrines  of  Confucius  from  China  ....  39 

Isolation  of  Japan  favored  its  Special  Artistic  and  Intellectual  Devel- 
opment   40 

Intuition  and  Realism  as  Bases  of  Art 41 

Recognition  of  the  Ideal 42 

Material  and  Ideal  Art 43 

Nothing  Unclean  except  by  Man’s  own  Will 44 

European  Art  Scientific,  Japanese  Idealistic  in  Basis  ...  44 

Aryan  and  Turanian  Branches  of  the  Human  Family  . . . .45 

Supremacy  Relative,  not  Positive 47 

The  One  Thing  Certain 47 


SECTION  II. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  ART  OF  JAPAN.  — ITS  DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


The  Religious  Motive  the  Chief  Inspiration  of  Art  . . . .48 

Idealism  a Complex  Phenomenon 49 

National  Ideals 49 

No  Race  without  its  Divine  Intuitions 50 

Art  an  Apotheosis  of  Ugliness  as  well  as  Beauty 51 

The  General  Desire  of  Art 52 

Mind  takes  Two  Forms  of  Consciousness 52 

Two  Ways  of  producing  Art 53 

The  Relation  of  Beauty  to  Art 53 

Truth  of  Idea,  and  Fact 54 

The  Ideals  of  Ugliness 54 

Kali,  the  Goddess  of  Destruction 55 

The  Christian  God 55 

The  Divinities  of  all  Races  are  the  Measures  of  their  Moral  and 

AEsthetic  Limitations 56 

The  Christian  Devil 56 

Jewish  Jehovah  ...........  57 

The  Fetichism  of  Science 58 

Occult  Problems  of  Life 58 

The  Highest  Use  Oriental  Art  makes  of  the  Human  Figure  . . 59 

The  Various  Buddhas 60 

Christ  as  an  Art-motive 61 

The  School  of  the  Nude  in  Japan 62 

Shintoism  Unfavorable,  Buddhism  Favorable  to  Art  ...  62 

Costume  of  both  Sexes  and  various  Ranks  of  People  . . . .63 

Japanese  Ideas  of  Modesty 64 

The  Dignity  of  Clothing,  etc 65 

Character  and  Skill  as  shown  in  Sculpture 65 


6 


CONTENTS. 


Key-note  to  Japanese  Compositions 66 

Household  Deities  ..........  66 

Ben-zai-ten-njo,  the  Japanese  Madonna,  and  Quamon,  Queen  of 

Heaven .66 

The  People’s  Deities  as  elected  or  revealed  of  Themselves  . . 68 

Spirits,  Good  and  Bad,  in  Art 69 

Yoshiaki,  'he  Famous  Sword-maker 70 

Business  ■ f the  Domestic  Deities 70 

Yebis,  the  Provider  of  Daily  Food,  etc 71 

Hotel,  the  Deity  of  Contentment  in  Poverty 71 

Dalkokou,  God  of  Riches 72 

Shiou-Rd,  the  God  of  Longevity 72 

Tossi-Toku,  Patron  of  Talents  73 

Bis-ja  mon,  the  God  of  Glory 74 

Ben-zai-ten-njo,  as  Benten,  the  People’s  Type  of  Highest  Woman- 
hood   “ 74 

Benten’s  Sons 76 

Benten,  as  the  Fecund  Mother  and  Provider,  Queen  of  Heaven  . 77 

Household  Deities  in  their  Lowliest  Aspects 78 

Chinese  Family  Divinities  - 79 

The  Root  Axiom  of  Japanese  Art 80 

Demonology  of  Japan 81 

Tati  maki , Drag'  n of  the  Typhoon 82 

Ghosts 82 

Differences  between  the  Indigenous  and  Borrowed  Art  of  Japan  . . 83 

The  “ Trial  of  the  Soul  ” in  Hades 83 

A Remarkable  Painting 84 

Siva  and  Satan 87 

The  “ Guardians  of  Heaven  ” 89 

Ralden,  Imp  of  Thunder 89 

Fiiten,  the  Weird-god 91 

The  Japanese  Mars  ........  . . 91 

Grotesque  Inventions 91 

The  Bird-people 92 

The  luk-spectre 94 

SECTION  m. 

THE  LITERATURE  AND  POETRY  OF  JAPAN. 

Effect  of  Cheap  Books  on  Art 100 

The  Alphabets  of  Japan 101 

The  Pictorial  Literature  and  Hoffksai  School  of  Designers  . . . 101 

Sketch-books  and  Albums 102 

The  Overturn  of  Old  Art;  its  Chief  Cause  and  Probable  Result  . . 103 

Best  Period  of  the  Shogoon  Art 103 

Love  of  Nature  of  the  People 104 

Habits  of  all  Classes  as  regards  Amusements  and  Love  of  Nature  . 105 


CONTENTS.  7 

Perspective  known  to  Japanese  Artists 106 

Motives  of  Figure  Art 106 

Two  Chief  Schools  and  their  Characteristics 107 

Character  of  Hoffksai’s  Style 109 

One  Cause  of  the  Japanese  Facility  of  Design 110 

Simplicity  and  Directness  of  Japanese  Designers  ....  112 

Repose  as  well  understood  as  Action 113 

Ecstatic  Art 113 

Treatment  of  Animal  and  Vegetable  Life 113 

Fondness  for  Out-door  Life  and  Objects 114 

Construction  and  Furnishing  of  Houses 114 

Divisions  and  Screens;  how  arranged 115 

The  Aesthetic  Conscience  of  the  Japanese 115 

Charms  of  their  Cities 116 

Poetry  of  Japan.  Its  Sentiment 117 

Earliest  Myths 118 

Sacred  Traditions  and  Literature 119 

The  Twofold  Nature  of  all  Genuine  Art 120 

The  Plaintive,  Skeptical,  and  Despairing  Side  of  Japanese  Poetry  . 121 
Epicurean  Satisfaction  in  Wretchedness  and  Disbelief  . . . 121 

Graphic  Realism  of  Poetry;  a Counterpart  of  their  Design  in  Feeling 

and  Aim 122 

The  Seasons  in  Poetry 123 

Stubborn  Materialism 124 

Plaintive  “ Uta  ” 124 

“Men  and  Screens,”  a Japanese  Novel 125 


SECTION  IV. 

THE  CONDITIONS  OF  L.IFE  OF  THE  JAPANESE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK. 


Soil  and  Climate  of  Japan 127 

Its  Physical  Features 127 

Feudal  System  and  Peasantry 128 

Necessaries  and  Superfluities  of  Life 129 

Values  of  Gold  and  Silver 130 

Wages  and  Gains 130 

Castes,  Arts,  Trades,  etc.,  descend  by  Inheritance  in  Families  . . 130 

Deportment  of  V arious  Classes 131 

Etiquette  at  the  Executions  of  the  Nobles 132 

Hara-kiri 133 

Fine  Manners,  Causes  and  Effects 133 

Low  Art  tends  to  Low  Manners  and  Habits 135 

Japanese  Princes  encourage  Art  and  practice  it 135 

Best  Epochs  of  Japanese  Art 136 

The  Workman  a Thorough  Master  of  his  Art  . ...  136 

How  he  worked,  and  his  Gains 137 

Perfection  and  Variety  of  his  Work 138 


8 


CONTENTS . 


Beauty  the  Chief  Aim 139 

Utility  a Subordinate  Feature  to  the  .Esthetic,  hut  not  neglected  or 

slighted 139 

A Unique  Vessel  . . ' 140 

The  Constructive  Soundness  of  Common  Articles  ....  141 

Confounding  of  Industrial  with  Fine  Arts 141 

Radical  Defects  of  European  Ornamentation 142 

Epitome  of  Character  of  Best  Japanese  Art-work  ....  143 
The  Distinction  between  Artistic  and  Esthetic  in  Man  or  Object  . 144 

Japanese  Art,  what  it  combines,  its  threatened  Extinction  . .345 

Chinese  Modern  Art,  its  Degeneracy 146 

Kiyotoand  Yedo,  the  Seats  of  the  Old  and  New  Schools  . . . 146 

The  Tyiannj'  of  Custom  or  Fashions  in  Art  Objects  and  Furniture  in 

Europe  and  America 147 

Supreme  Art  Principle 147 

Color  and  Form,  their  Relations  and  Effects 148 

Japanese  Albums  of  Water-color  Drawings 150 

Albums  in  Printed  Colors 151 

System  of  Coloring 152 

Mastery  over  Action  and  Use  of  Human  Figure  • • . .153 

Scenes  in  Fashionable  Life 154 

How  the  Japanese  Understand  the  Relative  Offices  and  Functions  of 

Nature  and  Art 155 

Jokes  writh  Nature  as  with  his  Religion 157 

Japanese  Art  Expressive  and  Suggestive;  does  much  with  Slight 
Means  and  Little  Effort  157 

Its  Technical  Methods  and  Aims 158 

An  Ancient  Album  of  Sketches  by  their  Old  Masters  . . . 159 

Poetical  Nomenclature 162 

Japanese  Landscape  Art 162 

They  reverse  the  Modern  European  Practice 163 

Drawings  of  Bamboos,  etc 164 

Consummate  Art  of  its  Kind 165 

Nature  and  Art  as  understood  by  the  Japanese  Artisan  . . . 165 


SECTION  V. 

JAPANESE  DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL  ART. — ITS  PRINCIPLES  AND 
RULES,  EXAMPLES,  ETC. 


Chief  Points  of  Chinese  Decorative  Art 167 

Its  Finish 167 

Its  Thoroughness  . . - 168 

Its  Variety 368 

Its  Principle  of  Adaptation 170 

Pure  Form 170 

Sevres  Ware  and  its  Principles  of  Decoration  contrasted  with  the  Jap- 
anese   171 


CONTENTS. 


9 


Cheap  Art 173 

Iron-work '.  174 

Pottery,  the  Art  of  the  People 174 

China,  Corea,  and  Japan 175 

Bastard  Japanese  Porcelains 175 

Expensive  Monstrosities 176 

Collectors’  Follies 176 

Eccentricities  of  Amateurs 177 

The  Vitality  of  Japanese  Design.  Why  . . . . . 178 

Satsuma  Majolica  179 

Perfume  Vases 180 

Examples  of  Fine  Craqueld  Wares 181 

The  Spout  Vase 182 

Origin  of  Craqueld  Ware 182 

Tea-pots  and  Services  for  this  National  Beverage  ....  183 

Easel  Pictures 184 

European  Imitations  of  Japanese  Work 185 

Porcelain  and  Majolica  Dishes,  etc 185 

Demon  Tea-kettle  and  other  Utensils 186 

Perversion  of  Religious  Rites 187 

Debasement  of  Motives 187 

The  whole  World  akin  by  its  Art 188 

Sectarian  Judgments  One-sided 188 

Methods  of  Decorating  Fine  Porcelains 189 

Use  of  Gold 190 

Porcelain  Reliefs  on  Terra-cotta  or  Majolica 192 

Red  or  Kiyoto  Wares ]92 

The  Cat  Dish 193 

Yedo  School  of  Designers  on  Porcelain 194 

Yedo  Bowl 194 

Ceramic  Ware  in  general.  Its  Qualities 196 

Fine  Work  dying  out  in  Japan 197 

Best  Art  Periods  in  China 198 

Metal-work 198 

Bronzes 199 

Two  Remarkable  Ancient  Statues  in  Bronze  of  Demi-gods  or  Heroes  200 
The  Family  of  Gorozas,  the  Cellinis  of  Japan  ....  202 

Cloisonne  Enamels 202 

Enameled  Porcelain 205 

Inlaid  Silver 205 

The  “ Koto  ” Musical  Instrument 206 

Japanese  Lacquer 208 

Sculpture 209 

Ivory  Carvings 209 

Fasi,  the  Artist  Sculptor 211 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


No.  Tag* 

1.  F rontispikce.  Picnic  of  thk  Household  Deities.  Taken 

from  “ Yc-ma-no-te  hon  ” — or  book  of  famous  pictures  ex- 
posed in  famous  temples.  See  page  98 

2.  Bkntkn,  the  Madonna  of  Japan.  Taken  from  “ Treasury  of 

Japanese  and  Chinese  Celebrated  Drawings  ” See  page  66  . 20 

3.  Tossi-Toku  — Deity  of  Talents,  etc.  Taken  from  “Treasury 

of  Japanese  and  Chinese  Celebrated  Drawings.”  See  page  73.  26 

4.  PORTRAIT  OF  A MAN  DISTINGUISH  I'D  IN  THE  BATTLE  OF  YaS- 

hkkick.  Pencil  of  San-yaku 32 

5.  Dream  of  the  Tired  Wat>r  Carrier — A Night-mare. 

Note  his  heavy  snoring  and  broken  fan.  Hoffksai  Album.  See 
page  111 38 

6.  Figure-drawings  made  from  the  Vulgar  and  the  Aris- 

tocratic or  Literary  Alphabets,  representing  a 
Scholar  and  a Beggar.  See  page  110  . . . .44 

7.  Archers.  Hoffk«ai  Album 50 

8.  Horsemen.  Hoffksai  Album 56 

9.  Sword  Exercise,  etc.  Hoffksai  Album  ....  62 

10.  Lance  Exercise.  Hoffksai  Album 68 

11.  Bird  and  Foliage.  “ Mirror  of  Models,”  etc.  ...  74 

12.  Exorcising  Demons  from  a House  on  New  Year’s.  Hoffksai  80 

13.  Long-armed  and  Bird-men,  etc.  Hoffksai.  See  page  92  . 86 

14.  Caricature  of  Artist  at  Work  Hoffksai.  See  page  111  92 

15.  Children  at  Play.  Rolling  a Snowball,  etc.  Hoffksai  . . 98 

16.  Figures  n a Landscape.  Hoffk  ai 104 

17.  Bird-men  carrying  Burdens.  Hoffksai.  See  page  93  . . 110 

18.  Demon  of  Gambling  watching  his  Victims  at  Play.  Hoftksai. 

See  page  93 116 

19.  An  Assassin  stealing  on  his  Victim  unconsciously.  Hoffksai  122 

Seranading  by  Moonlight.  Hoffksai 128 

20  Figure  drawing.  “ Mirror  of  Models,”  etc 134 

21.  Draw  ngs  of  Plants.  Hoffksai  School 140 

22.  Drawings  of  Birds.  Hoffksai  School 146 

23.  Drawings  of  Fishes.  "Hoffksai  ~ehool 152 

24.  Drawing  of  Bird  and  Plant.  “Mirror  of  Celebrated  Draw- 

ings”   ...  158 

25.  Drawings  from  Nature  for  Decorative  Design.  “Mirror 

of  Celebrated  Drawings  ” 164 

26.  Feats  of  Lkdgerdkmain.  Hoffksai  Album  . . . 170 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

11 

No. 

Pag* 

27.  Swimming  Feats. 

Hoffksai  Album  .... 

. 176 

28.  A Gust  of  Wind. 

Hoffksai  Album.  See  page  111 

. 182 

29.  Two  Cranks.  Mirror  of  Drawings  .... 

. 188 

30.  Long  Necks,  etc. 

Hoffksai.  See  page  91 

. 204 

Note.  — It  was  my  earnest  wish  to  give  correct  designs  of  some  of  the 
principal  bronzes,  ivories,  majolicas,  porcelains,  and  other  objects  men- 
tioned in  this  work.  After  trying  such  means  as  I had  at  my  disposal  in 
Italy,  I was  forced  to  give  up  the  project,  as  I found  the  drawing  became 
too  much  Europeanized,  and  therefore,  however  well  done  in  this  style, 
practically  useless  for  my  purpose.  Invariably,  the  native  life  of  the 
object  was  obscured  or  obliterated,  so  far  as  the  genuine  Japanese  accent- 
uation was  concerned,  be  it  for  the  better  or  worse  as  art.  Unless  the 
specific  objects  were  accurately  given,  my  descriptions  might  seem  to  many 
as  the  ravings  of  an  over-heated  fancy.  But  what  1 failed  in  doing  in 
respect  to  certain  branches  of  decorative  art,  I hoped  would  be  beautifully 
executed  by  Messrs.  Audsley  & Bowes,  of  Liverpool,  in  their  “ Keramic 
Art  of  Japan,”  now  publishing  in  numbers  at  a cost  of  seven  guineas  for 
the  complete  work.  This  gives  in  full  colors  and  gold  superbly  printed 
chromo-lithographs  of  fine  specimens,  ancient  and  modern,  of  this  attrac- 
tive handicraft.  But  if  the  criticism  of  Mons.  Ph.  Burty,  of  Paris,  in  the 
London  “Academy,”  of  August  21, 1875,  be  correct,  even  these  gentlemen, 
although  sparing  no  expense  and  drawing  to  fullest  extent  on  the  resources 
of  English  and  French  Art,  do  not  do  complete  justice  to  the  Japanese 
originals.  M.  Burty  writes,  “The  ornamentation  is  drawn  with  great  ex- 
actness, but  the  figure-drawing  is  less  characteristic.  The  draftsman  is 
evidently  afraid  of  just  that  point  of  exaggeration  which  marks  the  differ- 
ence between  his  own  school  and  that  of  the  empire  of  the  rising  sun.” 
He  recommends  “ fresher  and  more  decided  tones,”  etc. 

Precisely  so!  It  is  in  rendering  the  characteristic  meaning  and  technical 
force,  the  gradations,  purity,  and  limpidity  of  tones,  the  subtle  whole  of 
Japanese  Art,  that  the  European  copyist  always  fails.  His  tints  are  certain 
to  be  crude,  muddled,  if  I may  use  the  word,  and  his  drawing  hampered  by 
his  own  system  of  training  and  peculiar  fancies,  aggravated  by  his  igno- 
rance of  those  multifarious,  versatile,  and  mobile  models  drawn  from  the 
minor  forms  of  nature,  so  profoundly  but  delicately  comprehended  by  the 
Japanese  artist  and  workman,  who  are  in  general  identical.  Every  effort 
I have  yet  seen  on  the  part  of  their  European  rivals  to  reproduce  Japanese 
decorative  art  in  the  style  and  spirit  of  the  original  only  serves  to  show 
there  is  still  an  impassable  gulf  between  the  technical  elements  as  well  as 
ideas  of  the  Asiatic  and  Kuropean  art-work.  This  is  not  always  discernible 
at  once  by  an  inexperienced  eye  if  the  objects  are  not  in  juxtaposition, 
but  very  appreciable  as  soon  as  they  are,  by  any  one  of  the  least  artistic 
discern^  ent.  Unless  we  can  treat  the  artists  of  Japan  fairly  in  so  nice  a 
matter,  it  is  better  to  let  words  do  what  they  can  to  record  their  merits, 
subject  to  the  test  of  such  of  their  best  works  as  may  be  seen  in  public 
museums  and  private  collections. 


12 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


But  as  the  above  objections  apply  in  a limited  degree  to  reproductions  of 
designs  and  compositions  from  their  books  and  albums  by  means  of  photo- 
lithography, I have  liberally  drawn  on  its  aid  to  give  fac-similes  in  black 
and  white  of  a sufficient  variety  of  Japanese  decorative,  humorous,  and 
illustrative  drawings  taken  from  old  and  recent  works,  as  to  graphically 
illustrate  — barring  the  somewhat  crude  ink  impressions  and  broken  out- 
lines— the  Japanese  system  of  de-ign  in  general,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done 
without  the  magic  help  of  delightfully  tinted,  delicate  papers,  and  the  skill- 
ful coloring  of  some  of  the  original  drawings.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
not  a little  of  their  aesthetic  personation  depends  on  these  points.  Artists 
and  amateurs,  however,  who  have  access  to  the  originals,  will  not  fait  to 
make  due  allowance  for  all  irremediable  drawbacks  in  these  otherwise 
literal  reproductions.  Perceiving  also  those  radical  artistic  qualities  which 
distinguish  best  Japanese  art,  they  will  bear  me  witness  that  I am  not 
without  solid  proof  of  the  eminent  merits  which  I have  sought  to  point  out 
in  some  of  their  more  important  productions,  and  which  are  based  on  the 
same  class  of  motives  and  similar  artistic  treatment  as  the  minor.  It  must 
not  be  overlooked  either  that  even  in  selecting  from  this  latter  class  these 
pictures  for  reproduction,  I am  debarred  from  attempting  its  finest  because 
of  the  sheer  impossibility  of  giving  their  subtlest  qualities  and  strongest 
effects.  But  limited  as  I have  been  in  this  matter,  I trust  that  this  brief 
treatise  and  its  illustrations  may  help  enlarge  our  own  Anglo-Saxon  art- 
horizon  and  give  us  new  sources  of  artistic  enjoyment. 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


SECTION  I. 

ITS  PSYCHOLOGICAL  AND  MATERIAL  BASIS  AND 
HISTORICAL  ORIGIN. 

An  inquiry  into  the  art  of  any  people  is  not  unlike 
feeling  the  pulse  of  a man  to  ascertain  the 

0 . ^ . Art  inquiry. 

state  of  his  blood.  Thus,  by  watching  the 
currents  of  art  we  learn  how  it  succeeds  in  disguising 
the  prosaic  exigencies  of  human  existence,  to  what 
height  it  lifts  a nation’s  ideal,  and  the  wholesomeness 
or  unwholesomeness  of  its  general  or  special  move- 
ments. Michael  Angelo  rightly  said  the  intent  of 
fine  art  u was  to  raise  our  intellect  from  earth  to 
heaven.”  But  it  is  equally  true  that  low  or  base  art, 
in  fine,  all  that  which  establishes  its  idealism  on  gross 
materialisms  and  flippancy  of  any  sort,  runs  to  evil, 
blighting  the  intellect  with  corroding  sensualisms  and 
atheistical  conclusions.  Dutch  art  is  of  the  earth 
earthy,  but  not  necessarily  ignoble  ; for  amidst  its 
sheens  of  satins  and  bouts  of  boors,  there  is  that 
which  is  rightly  enjoyable  and  humanly  helpful  after 
its  sort. 

Although  the  office  of  art  is  to  excite  spontaneous 
enjoyment,  yet  its  final  effect  should  prompt 

* . . , . . . . r Office  of  art. 

to  a critical  examination  of  the  nature  of 


14  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


our  pleasure,  what  it  reveals  of  the  character  of  the 
race  that  creates  it,  and  its  psychological  meaning  as 
a distinctive  idiom  of  the  universal  language  of  our 
species.  Any  less  mental  analysis  reduces  art  to  the 
level  of  sensuous  gratification  as  transitory  as  the 
chance  melody  of  the  passing  bird.  And  when  we 
find  ourselves  in  an  altogether  new  field  of  observa- 
tion, although  at  first  more  liable  to  err,  the  novelty 
adds  to  the  charm  of  the  pursuit  and  incites  to  greater 
activity.  For  a brief  moment  there  is  a 

A new  world.  . , . 

new  world  to  explore. 

This  has  been  emphatically  the  case  with  the  coun- 
Japan  or  try  which,  until  a few  years  ago,  was  almost 
Nipon-  as  much  unknown  to  us  as  the  interior  of 
Africa;  I mean  the  land  of  Nipon,  “ the  sun’s  source,” 
by  Europeans  baptized  Japan. 

In  entering  the  new  world,  familiar  ideals  and  or- 
dinary rules  must  be  cast  aside.  Instead 

New  ideals 

and  new  we  must  accept  new  ideals  and  rules,  and 

rules.  • . . ... 

try  to  enjoy  everything  good  in  its  principle 
and  sound  in  its  manifestation  after  its  kind,  however 
much  it  varies  from  the  forms  and  laws  which  we 
have  been  trained  to  esteem  as  the  only  correct  ones. 
It  is  with  art  as  with  religion : if  we  brand  a rite  as 
foolish,  simply  because  of  its  strangeness,  we  may 
shut  ourselves  unwittingly  out  of  a new  phase  of 
truth  and  source  of  happiness.  Indeed,  it  is  incum- 
bent to  examine  it,  if  but  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of 
humanity.  Besides  the  aesthetic  delight  of  finding 
real  beauty  instead  of  anticipated  ugliness,  the  respect 
which  thus  supplants  prejudice  born  of  ignorance, 
a new  begets  a more  fraternal  estimate  of  our  fel- 
low-men whatever  their  creeds  or  colors. 
But  the  lesson  is  even  more  impressive,  if  besides 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


15 


strangeness  of  aspects  and  ideas,  we  discover  a superi- 
ority in  any  point  to  our  own  standards,  requiring 
a mental  revolution  to  attain  to  the  level  of  aesthetic 
perceptions  and  knowledge  of  those  on  whom  we 
venture  to  sit  in  judgment. 

Some  preparation  of  this  character  is  emphatically 
needed  as  regards  all  oriental  art,  and 

° # Preparation 

chiefly  the  Japanese.  Almost  every  one  is  needed  for 

" , ,L  . . . oriental  art. 

struck  with  its  more  obvious  qualities  of 
brilliant  color  and  consummate  finish  ; but  few  per- 
sons at  first  glance  adequately  appreciate  its  diversi- 
fied, subtle  harmonies  of  tints  and  designs',  its  ex- 
quisite delicacy  of  sentiment  and  execution,  and 
its  wonderful  facility  of  invention  and  expression. 
When  we  come  to  know  its  best  characteristics  the 
marvel  increases,  that  a nation  of  nearly  forty  mil- 
lions of  semi-barbarous  heathens  — as  our  school-books 
have  taught  us  to  view  the  Japanese  — could  have 
attained  to  such  degrees  of  taste  and  skill  as  to 
make  its  prolific  art  possible  at  all.  For  it  is  one 
thing  to*  produce  a Michael  Angelo,  whose  works  iso- 
lated by  transcendent  genius  are  above  the  compre- 
hension of  the  multitude,  and  quite  another  to  invent 
innumerable  lovely  objects  which  all  can  appreciate 
and  enjoy,  but  which  could  not  have  existed  unless 
there  were  numberless  competent  artists  and  a na- 
tional capacity  of  invoking  their  happiest  efforts. 
There  is,  too,  all  the  more  need  for  us  promptly  to 
inform  ourselves  of  the  character  and  history  of  the 
art  in  question,  because  it  is  rapidly  losing  its  best 
original  traits,  and  is  even  in  danger  of  extinction, 
gradual  if  not  immediate.  The  same  fatal  decadence 
into  mechanical  uniformity  and  poverty  of  ideas  and 
invention  which  European  commerce  has  wrought  in 


16 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  art  of  China,  now  threatens  that  of  Japan,  only  its 
The  true  Power  of  resistance  is  greater.  The  true 
artistic  artistic  instinct  still  lingers,  and  indeed 

instinct.  t ° 

Japan  yet  remains  (1872)  the  sole  country 
in  which  it  retains  much  of  its  pristine  vigor.  For 
awhile  longer  the  Japanese  may  represent  a stage  of 
civilization,  once  universal,  which  took  more  delight 
in  delicious  ornament  than  in  prosaic  utility  and  com- 
fort. Our  modern  life  tends  to  the  obliteration  of 
local  and  individual  distinctions  of  taste  and  charac- 
ter, replacing  them  by  a cosmopolitan  uniformity  of 
manners  and  ideas.  It  is  a powerful  solvent,  piti- 
lessly consuming  all  that  which  is  most  fascinating  in 
the  past  without  so  far  yielding  in  return  any  ade- 
quate artistic  compensation. 

Once  each  European  school  of  art  had  a local 
stamp  as  sharply  defined  as  the  idioms  of 
of  European  the  parent  country.  Now  the  fine  arts 
everywhere  affect  the  same  general  char- 
acteristics as  do  the  fashions  of  civilized  peoples, 
whilst  the  strictly  decorative  have  succumbed  in 
spirit  and  form  to  the  purely  industrial.  The  dis- 
position to  cheapen  and  multiply  the  minor 

What  is  fatal  1 , . i • i e -p 

to  artistic  arts  by  mechanical  processes  of  uniform  ap- 

thought.  .......  ...  V 

plication  is  fatal  to  artistic  thought.  It 
effaces  our  intellectual  convictions,  blunts  the  desire 
for  beauty,  or  else  gives  it  an  appetite  for  the  gross 
. and  showy.  As  the  aesthetic  consciousness  becomes 
deadened,  we  lose  our  capacity  of  appreciation  of 
refined  harmonies  in  forms  and  colors,  and  in  time 
actually  learn  to  prefer  a monotonous  multitude  of 
cheap  and  ugly  objects  to  master-works  of  art,  the 
feeling  for  which  becoming  as  inscrutable  as  their 
laws  are  incomprehensible.  If  stinted  in  wholesome 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


17 


aesthetic  diet,  our  senses  degenerate  without  our  per- 
ceiving the  change.  Any  race  which  systematically 
neglects  or  misapprehends  art,  gradually  weakens  its 
cognizance  of  aesthetic  law,  and  ends  in  confusing  its 
ideas  and  practice  as  regards  art  with  other  and  op- 
posing matters.  The  primary  instinct  and  experi- 
ence being  thus  lost,  education  has  to  begin  its  work 
anew,  and  on  a different  basis,  in  order  to  revive  even 
the  wish  for  the  beautiful.  At  first  the  natural  craving 
of  men  for  ornament  suffices  to  excite  in  them  a love 
for  beauty.  Then  comes  a period  of  indifference  or  ab- 
sorption in  other  and  more  pressing  interests.  After- 
wards, as  a people  matures  its  civilization,  culture 
begins  anew  to  affect  the  beautiful,  and  talk  the  lan- 
guage of  the  ideal.  But  we  now  must  be  taught  to 
enjoy  objects  to  whose  beauties  we  have  long  been 
callous,  or  which  perhaps  actually  offended  our  senses. 
Education,  not  intuition,  becomes  the  new  motor  in 
art. 

As  regards  Japan,  the  first  consideration  is  to 
know  what  not  to  look  for ; next,  what  to 
expect.  Every  race  has  its  specific  ideals,  look  for  in 

rrvi  i i i • . • • i I Japanese  art. 

lhese  types  may  have  a realistic  or  ideal- 
istic physiognomy,  or  a mixed  one  of  both  features. 
An  artist  conceives  a supernal  being,  but  clothes  it 
in  the  lusty  charms  of  earth,  as  did  Rubens  and  Rem- 
brandt, the  thought  only  being  born  of  the  spirit 
while  the  model  is  of  the  flesh.  Others,  like  Civitali 
or  Angelico,  eliminate  material  grossness  and  leave  a 
clear  apprehension  of  spirit-life  so  graceful  and  pure 
as  to  make  it  impossible  to  draw  the  line  between  its 
mixed  motives.  In  fine,  there  is  an  endless  variety 
of  idealisms,  from  the  sublime  eternizations  of  mat- 
ter by  a Buonarotti  to  the  impish  extravagances  of 
2 


18  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


oriental  designers  and  the  foul  sensualisms  of  Dore’s 
“ Contes  Drolatiques.”  We  are  to  keep  in  view  the 
impressions  which  each  school  or  race,  or  indeed  in- 
dividual, wishes  to  make,  and  also  what  are  the  tech- 
nical means  employed.  In  the  art  of  Japan  one  must 
not  look  for  the  metaphysical  abstractions  of  that  of 
Egypt,  — forms  of  mysterious  and  awful  import  ; 
nor  yet  for  the  aim  of  the  Grecian, — perfect  sensuous 
types  of  mental  and  physical  beauty  ; and  still  less 
for  the  even  more  difficult  ones  of  mediaeval  Chris- 
tianity, seeking  to  bring  down  to  the  level  of  mortal 
recognition  the  celestial  types  of  immortality.  Each 
of  these  great  schools  in  one  form  or  other  took  the 
human  figure  as  the  point  of  departure  of  their  varied 
conceptions,  all  striving  to  lift  the  earthly  finite  into 
the  spiritual  infinite. 

The  Japanese,  on  the  contrary,  manifest  no  such 
Japanese  inclination.  Nevertheless,  they  have  an  un- 
ideal-  mistakable  ideal  of  female  loveliness  and 
manly  vigor.  But  the  results  are  unpleasing  to 
European,  eyes  as  artistic  types.  By  no  charity  of 
taste  can  we  train  ourselves  to  admire  their  effigies 
of  cumbersomely  dressed  men  and  women  with  their 
narrow,  elongated  eyes,  noses,  mouths,  and  chins, 
false  eyebrows,  hideous  toilets  of  hair,  ungraceful 
contours  and  movement,  and  deficiency  of  elevated 
sentiments  in  their  features.  These  types  are  the 
every-day  ones  of  the  street,  plebeian  or  noble,  but, 
intentionally  or  not,  burlesqued  and  exaggerated.  In- 
stead of  attempting  to  idealize  forms,  actions,  and 
ideas  or  emotions,  there  is  an  irresistible  artistic  im- 
pulse to  see  life  on  its  humorous  or  ridiculous  side, 
and  to  convert  humanity  into  anything  but  a phase 
of  beauty  according  to  our  notions.  Their  pictorial 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


19 


standard  of  the  human  figure  seems  based  on  the 
savage  taste  of  transforming  the  natural  into  the 
unnatural,  if  not  by  the  direct  mutilation  of  separate 
features,  by  giving  to  them  as  a whole  a deformed 
or  impossible  aspect.  The  public  taste  has  been  so 
long  trained  to  view  the  human  form  from  this  point 
of  ideal  ugliness  that  it  takes  its  most  pop-  Jdeal  ugli 
ular  gratification  in  those  types  which  give  ness- 
it  greatest  emphasis.  Added  to  this,  the  Japanese 
artist  knows  nothing  of  anatomy  as  a science.  In- 
deed, merely  to  touch  a corpse  was  to  be  defiled. 
Consequently,  while  their  powers  of  observation  as 
regards  general  action  are  wonderfully  acute  and 
correct  in  expression,  they  utterly  fail  in  truth  of 
anatomical  details,  such  as  rightly  rendering  joints, 
muscles,  etc.,  foreshortening,  and  those  elementary 
facts  of  design,  without  a knowledge  of  which  Euro- 
pean art  would  seem  woefully  imbecile.  As  the  Jap- 
anese artist  lias  never  sought  aesthetic  instruction  in 
this  direction,  we  must  observe  and  judge  him  only 
by  the  amount  of  success  he  obtains  in  what  he  actu- 
ally studies  and  practices.  Their  gods  and 
heroes  impress  chiefly  by  the  extravagance  gods  and  he- 

. . , , roes  impress. 

or  their  postures  and  costumes,  their  intense 
action  and  passion,  or  the  grotesqueness  of  their  sym- 
bolizations, in  which  the  elements  of  the  ridiculous 
or  jovial  appear  almost  invariably  united  or  confused 
with  the  terrible  or  hideous,  as  if  fear  must  be  tem- 
pered with  fun,  or  a blind  materialistic  faith  in  the 
Japanese  mind  was  ever  married  to  a sense  of  humor 
begotten  either  of  a national  levity  or  absolute  skepti- 
cism. There  is  no  modeling  in  these  pictorial  fig- 
ures. They  are  perfectly  flat,  shadowless,  angular, 
and  sharp  in  outlines  ; faulty  as  can  be,  if  judged  by 


20  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  canons  of  a Leonardo  da  Vinci,  but,  as  we  shall 
see  by  and  by,  full  of  merits  of  other  character  not 
less  requisite  in  the  construction  of  a perfect  artistic 
whole,  and  in  sculpture  or  casting  almost  perfect  as 
to  general  proportions  and  forms. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  note  how  the  best  Gre- 
iiowGre-  cian  forms  would  impress  the  Japanese  cul- 
impres/the  tivated  mind.  Apparently  the  race  is  as 
Japanese.  call0us  to  these  works,  and  the  principles 
and  ideas  which  underlie  them,  as  the  common  sav- 
age is  to  the  music  of  Beethoven  or  Wagner.  A cor- 
rect idea  of  the  beautiful  in  our  species  as  an  art- 
motive  does  not  exist  in  the  Orient,  for  reasons  besides 
the  above,  and  which  will  appear  further  on.  At 
present  it  is  enough  to  state  that  the  Japanese  have 
never  sought  to  develop  art  in  the  direction  of  the 
chief  aims  and  triumphs  of  our  own.  Yet  it  would 
be  unfair  not  to  give  them  a hearing  as  regards  what 
they  do  most  admire.  One  of  the  Japanese  tales 
a Japanese  translated  by  A.  B.  Mitford  thus  describes 
bene.  a keqe  0f  sixteen  : “ She  was  neither  too 
fat  nor  too  thin,  neither  too  tall  nor  too  short ; her 
face  was  oval  like  a melon  seed,  and  her  complexion 
fair  and  white  ; her  eyes  were  narrow  and  bright,  her 
teeth  small  and  even,  her  nose  was  aquiline,  and  her 
mouth  delicately  formed  with  lovely  lips ; her  eye- 
brows were  long  and  fine ; she  had  a profusion  of 
long  black  hair  ; she  spoke  modestly  with  a soft,  sweet 
voice,  and  when  she  smiled  two  lovely  dimples  ap- 
peared in  her  cheeks  ; in  all  her  movements  she  was 
gentle  and  refined.”  Not  an  unattractive  damsel,  cer- 
tainly, despite  the  narrow  eyes  and  melon-seed  shaped 
face,  and  a description  which  tallies  with  the  best  fe- 
male types  of  the  artists,  barring  their  propensity  to 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


21 


elongate  features.  The  hero  “ Genzuburd  ” fell  in 
love  with  her  at  first  sight,  and  she,  “ seeing  what  a 
handsome  man  he  was,  fell  in  love  with  him ; ” but 
as  the  novelist  does  not  recount  his  good  points,  we 
must  accept  the  male  ideal  as  given  by  the  pencil  of 
the  artist. 

Architecture,  in  its  noblest  condition,  is  equally  un- 
known in  Japan.  There  is  shown  no  elab-  Architecture 
orate  attempt  to  develop  it,  either  in  in  tel-  unknown- 
lectual  or  spiritual  shapes.  Instead  they  erect  tem- 
porary homes  or  shrines,  tent-like  in  principle,  bizarre 
in  construction,  mostly  of  wood  or  frailer  material, 
and  in  nowise  responding  to  that  fine  instinct  of  im- 
mortality which  materializes  itself  in  our  finest  relig- 
ious edifices,  or  even  those  aspirations  which  find  vent 
in  our  ambitious  palaces  and  public  buildings.  The 
frequent  earthquakes  are  a serious  obstacle  to  archi- 
tecture of  any  sort.  Whatever  was  built  had  to  be 
either  extremely  broad,  low,  and  massive,  like  the 
stone  basements  of  temples,  castles,  and  fortifications, 
with  sloping  walls  to  resist  the  throes  of  the  earth,  or 
structures  of  wood,  light  and  open,  with  paper  or  mat 
partitions  which  would  bend  but  not  break,  and,  if  de- 
stroyed, were  readily  and  cheaply  rebuilt.  Moreover, 
as  with  their  ethnic  kinsmen  of  remote  antiquity,  the 
Egyptians  and  Etruscans,  the  temple  proper 

i_  u j • , , f,  , u Temple  held 

was  hoiden  second  in  esteem  to  the  tombs  second  to 
of  their  forefathers,  where  were  held  the 
most  solemn  rites  in  commemoration  of  their  disem- 
bodied spirits.  Hence  the  sepulchre  was  even  a more 
sacred  place  than  the  temple,  or  became  so  conjoined 
that  they  were  virtually  one  edifice.  In  Japan,  the 
most  attractive  shrines  are  those  consecrated  to  the 
interments  of  the  ShOgoons  and  Mikados,  but  their 


22 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


beauty  is  more  due  to  the  taste  displayed  in  the  selec- 
tion, of  the  sites  of  these  sepulchral  temples,  and  the 
adornment  of  the  grounds,  than  in  their  architecture, 
which,  setting  aside  the  gilt  and  carved  ornamenta- 
tion of  certain  details,  is  extremely  simple  and  nomad- 
like in  general  aspect. 

Indeed,  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  in 
The  fine  arts  their  supreme  significance, — the  fine  arts, 
in  Japan.  wjth  ^he  human  SOul  and  form  as  their  fun- 
damental motives,  and  human  excellence  or  spiritual 
loveliness  as  theii  distinctive  aims  in  expression,  — are 
not  found  in  the  aesthetic  constitution  of  the  Japan- 
ese. Keeping  this  fact  in  sight,  we  can  profitably 
study  what  they  have  done.  Whenever  their  rule 
departs  from  ours,  the  result  seems  to  justify  it. 
Within  their  own  scope  they  display  a finer  art  of  its 
kind  than  we  have  ever  imagined,  based  on  a keener 
sense  and  delight  in  nature  apart  from  man  himself 
as  the  chief  object  of  art.  They  do  make  an  object- 
ive use  of  man,  but  with  a different  appreciation  from 
ours.  Having  no  passion  for  plastic  beauty,  they  can- 
not replace  the  Greeks,  but  they  give  what  these  did 
not  care  to  bestow.  In  many  important  respects,  Jap- 
anese art  is  a fitting  and  pleasurable  supplement  to 
the  European.  Far  narrower  in  range,  unscientific 
in  our  meaning,  less  profound  in  motives,  unambitious 
in  its  aims,  less  fettered  by  technical  rule  or  transi- 
tory fashions,  it  is  more  subtile,  intense,  varied,  free, 
and  truthfully  artistic  in  decorative  expression ; more 
abounding  in  unexpectedness  and  delicious  surprises, 
in  aesthetic  coquetries  and  charms  of  aesthetic  speech 
intelligible  to  every  degree  of  culture.  Its  good  things 
never  grow  stale,  or  seem  monotonous  and  conven- 
tional. They  are  a spirituel  rendering  of  the  real- 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN . 


23 


isms  and  naturalisms  of  the  daily  life,  intercourse  with 
nature,  and  imaginings  of  a lively,  impressionable 
race,  in  the  full  tide  of  an  instinctive,  passionate 
craving  for  art,  while  yet  in  the  infancy  of  its  relig- 
ious faiths  and  material  civilization.  This  judgment 
will  perhaps  surprise  even  those  who  are  fond  of  Jap- 
anese art,  and  be  challenged  by  the  unfamiliar.  But 
the  best  qualities  of  the  old  art  in  Europe  are  scarcely 
heeded  now,  because  our  senses  as  a people  have 
degenerated  from  their  former  sensitiveness.  With 
Japan  we  are  called  to  experience  altogether  New8ensa- 
new  sensations  which  astonish  and  oppress  tlons- 
races  long  accustomed  to  thin,  pale  tints,  meaningless, 
motionless  forms,  vapid  imitation,  and  confectionary 
compositions ; the  puerile  affectations  of  a soulless, 
mercenary,  uncreative,  and  fashion-serving  period. 
As  we  revive  our  aesthetic  intuitions,  and  cultivate 
our  knowledge  of  universal  art,  so  shall  we  learn  to 
rejoice  in  much,  of  which  the  strangeness  at  first  sight 
almost  repels  curiosity  or  provokes  hostility. 

There  is  no  country  whose  condition  has  been  more 
favorable  to  the  development  of  marked 
characteristics  distinct  from  all  others  than  conditions 
Japan.  Its  population  is  directly  descended,  o£  Japan‘ 
without  intermixture,  from  the  Asiatic  race  which 
long  before  the  Christian  era  occupied  its  soil  and  re- 
duced the  A’inos,  or  aboriginal  tribes,  to  an 
abject  vassalage,  or  left  them  to  subsist  as 
they  best  might  in  precarious  savagery,  in  the  remot- 
est wilds  of  their  own  archipelago.  This  latter  people 
appear  to  be  one  of  the  very  primitive  races  of  man- 
kind, and  although  now  amiable  and  tractable,  must 
have  been,  in  their  original  state,  extremely  barba- 
rous ; for  they  are  invariably  represented  in  Japanese 


The  AYnos 


24  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


art,  in  their  outward  appearance  and  habits,  as  little 
above  the  level  of  the  brute  creation,  very  often  far 
Bear  wor-  beneath  it,  in  uncouth  and  ferocious  aspects, 
ship.  Indeed,  they  had  instituted  a sort  of  worship 
of  the  bear,  regarding  the  animal  as  a superior  in- 
telligence, whilst  their  young  women  were  required 
sometimes  to  suckle  the  cubs,  as  a sort  of  expiatory 
rite  for  hunting  the  grown  ones.  At  all  events,  the 
Japanese  art  is  remarkably  homogeneous  as  to  blood 
in  either  stock,  and  there  has  been  no  perceptible 
mixture  of  the  later  comers  with  these  wild  men 
whose  origin  is  lost  in  an  untransmitted  past. 

Although  separated  from  nearest  Asia  by  scarcely 
one  hundred  miles  of  sea,  the  new  inhabitants  always 
maintained  their  independence.  And  this,  too,  during 
a long  period  which  saw  the  rise  and  fall  of  all  other 
conspicuous  nationalities,  sometimes  their  utter  extinc- 
tion, but  oftener  their  conquest  and  remodel- 


Japanese 

isolation 

independ- 


isolation  and  -^g  a^.  f.]ie  hancls  0f  foreign  dynasties  and  hos- 


ence-  tile  creeds.  Doubtless  their  insular  position 
has  helped  this  national  longevity,  besides  strengthen- 
ing that  complacent  pride  which  imparts  for  a while  a 
vigorous  individuality  to  those  who  fancy  themselves 
superior  to  other  races  simply  because  they  are  com- 
pelled to  live  apart  from  them.  In  the  end,  however, 
as  with  individual  families,  it  weakens  their  powers 
and  leaves  them  stranded  on  the  shoals  of  time  far  in 
the  rear  of  those  peoples  exposed  to  the  active  com- 
petition of  equals.  But  in  the  policy  of  the  Japanese 
there  was  a shrewd  common  sense,  which,  whilst  fore- 
seeing the  risks  of  unrestricted  intercourse  with  un- 
scrupulous neighbors,  also  perceived  the  solid  advan- 
tages to  be  gained  by  the  free  admission  of  their  arts 
and  ideas.  When  the  proselyting  pressure  of  Roman- 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


25 


ism  began  to  threaten  the  autonomy  of  their  institu- 
tions, the  government  cutting  off  at  once  all  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations,  was  quite  as  pitiless  and 
far  more  effective  in  stamping  out  of  existence  an 
obnoxious  faith  than  was  Philip  II.  in  Spain  in  cau- 
terizing the  rising  Protestantism  of  his  dominions, 
although  backed  by  a “ Holy  Inquisition”  and  the 
rampant  bigotry  of  his  subjects. 

There  was,  however,  a valid  reason  for  the  success 
of  Japan  besides  that  of  violence,  in  con- 

. * ...  . Object  of 

serving  both  her  institutions  and  internal  Japanese 
prosperity,  as  contrasted  with  the  results  of 
a congenial  policy  but  narrower  polity  on  the  part  of 
Spain,  by  which,  while  preserving  her  faith,  she  sacri- 
ficed her  power  and  ruined  her  people.  The  object 
of  Japan  was  to  secure  a unity,  not  of  faith,  but  of 
obedience  to  the  government ; subjecting  all  creeds  to 
civil  guidance  and  equality  before  the  law,  whilst  re- 
pressing none  which  accepted  these  conditions.  At 
first,  Romanism  was  received  as  hospitably  as  Bud- 
dhism had  been  fifteen  hundred  years  before,  and 
might  have  thriven  as  well  in  the  new  soil,  had  it  not 
put  forth  pretensions  which  jeopardized  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  imperial  dynasty,  the  principles  on  which 
the  supreme  power  was  founded  and  the  entire  basis 
of  the  civil  government.  Romanism,  as  guided  by 
papal  infallibility,  leaves  to  dissentients  no  choice  be- 
tween its  entire  acceptance  and  the  consequent  over- 
turn of  all  previous  ideas,  or  its  own  extermination, 
as  the  sole  means  of  self-preservation  either  to  a rival 
faith  or  rule.  Wisely  or  not,  the  Japanese  chose  the 
latter  alternative  the  moment  it  was  clear  no  way 
was  open  to  reconcile  Romanism  with  their  views  of 
religious  equality  before  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 


26  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


True,  this  was  somewhat  peculiar,  and  conflicted  radi- 
cally with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Papacy. 
Nevertheless,  the  Mikados  and  their  subjects  had  as 
substantial  a right  to  their  peculiar  claims  and  opin- 
ions as  the  Popes  and  Romanists  had  to  theirs.  The 
question  was,  how  to  make  two  claimants  to  exclu- 
sive divine  authority  and  power  over  men’s  souls  and 
bodies  live  side  by  side  in  harmony,  differing  as  they 
did  so  antagonistically  in  the  fundamental  inferences 
drawn  from  their  suppose^  monopolies  of  truth  and 
authority.  But  the  Japanese  being  in  complete  pos- 
session of  their  own  ground,  after  short  debate  and 
hesitation,  unable  to  unravel  the  metaphysical  knot 
satisfactorily  to  both,  cut  it  by  the  sword  in  their  own 
favor. 

Polemically  viewed,  the  Mikados,  or  Sh6goons,  act- 
Geneaiogies  in  their  name,  were  in  the  right.  Not 
dostan<flika’  onty  their  dynasty  antedated  the  Papacy 
deities.  more  than  eight  hundred  years,  but  they  and 
their  people  believed  that  they  were  directly  de- 
scended from  the  gods  of  Japan.  Indeed,  the  gene- 
alogies of  the  deities  and  emperors  were  one  and 
inseparable.  Consequently,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Japan- 
ese, the  right  of  the  Mikados  to  supreme  rule  was  un- 
qualified by  any  attribute  of  delegated  powers,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  Popes,  who  were  only  the  temporal 
agents  of  the  Romanist’s  gods.  In  giving  the  reasons 
of  the  Japanese  policy,  we  must  look  at  it  from  their 
point  of  view  as  well  as  that  of  their  opponents.  So 
far  therefore  as  a -divine  right  could  be  cited  by  either, 
the  Mikados  were  clearly  ahead  of  the  Popes  ; and 
what  was  surer  for  their  power  and  influence,  the  loy- 
alty of  their  subjects  to  them  as  civil  rulers  was  inex- 
tricably involved  with  their  devotion  to  their  gods 


•;  - . 

f ■'*  ■-  > - 

fc;v 

ft?-  w 

m • 


■ 


- 


fc ; 

WL  ,■ 


&■*  ■ 


- ■ ■■  ’ 31 


.:/ 


■ fi 


MR?-/-  •' 

i 


-■  < 


v*  *.  - • 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


27 


and  belief  in  divinities  of  any  sort.  The  persons  of 
their  rulers  thus  became  so  sacred  as  to  be  regarded 
and  worshipped  as  symbols  of  divine  omniscience. 
Now  as  this  stringent  infallibility  of  power  and  opin- 
ion was  conceded  on  both  sides  without  any  attempt, 
as  with  the  Popes,  to  prescribe  fixed  rituals,  articles 
of  religious  belief,  or  any  of  the  paraphernalia  of 
creeds  and  material  assumptions  by  which  bigotries 
strive  to  enchain  mind,  the  Japanese  could  and  did 
freely  believe  and  practice  as  they  chose  as  to  what- 
ever directly  concerned  religion  and  its  forms,  whilst 
the  Mikados  jealously  watched  that  no  church  should 
control  the  civil  interests  of  their  subjects  under  pre- 
tense of  taking  care  of  their  eternal  welfare.  Religiou8 
Unlike  Rome,  all  dogmas  were  essentially  toleratlon- 
free.  The  Mikado  was  above  all  dogma.  With  what 
liberty  the  various  sects  in  Japan  exercised  their 
privileges  and  functions  in  mutual  harmony  will  be 
seen  as  we  advance.  As  for  the  state,  it  maintained 
an  impartial  polity.  If  the  Sh6goons  personally  fa- 
vored the  doctrines  of  Buddhism,  the  Mikados  clung 
as  tenaciously  to  the  rites  of  Shintoism,  their  original 
form  of  worship.  Thus  the  government  itself  sailed  in 
peaceful  waters  so  far  as  doctrines  were  concerned,  and 
the  people  were  equally  charitable  and  contented. 

The  Japanese  clergy  could  not,  as  did  the  Romanist, 
make  an  unassailable  monopoly  of  baptisms,  Noritual 
marriages,  burials,  or  kindred  rites,  by  which,  mon°p°lism- 
through  fear  of  sacrilege  and  future  damnation,  the 
people  either  were  or  could  be,  enslaved  body  and 
soul  to  their  priests,  and  the  civil  authorities  put  in 
peril  at  their  bidding.  To  retain  any  influence  with 
their  flocks  the  ecclesiastical  powers  must  conform  to 
the  protective  statutes  and  observances  of  the  state ; 


28  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


for  was  not  the  head  of  the  state  the  personal  god 
himself?  Viewed  either  as  a subtle  device  to  obtain 
unlimited  power,  or  as  a beneficent  instrument  to  per- 
mit freedom  of  worship  under  a supreme  authority 
above  all  dogma  or  rites,  this  Japanese  constitution  is 
grandly  efficacious  and  simple,  and  compares  most 
favorably  with  the  elaborated  mysticisms  of  Roman- 
ism ending  in  the  futile  attempt  of  this  nineteenth 
century  to  attain  an  equally  omnipotent  authority 
under  the  specious  plea  of  “ infallibility,”  not  to  pro- 
tect liberty  of  conscience,  but  to  restrict  it  to  the  ty- 
rannical interpretations  of  the  age  of  a Hildebrand 
and  to  abase  the  civil  power  to  the  lowest  depths  of 
servitude. 

Knowing,  both  from  the  experience  of  other  people 
and  the  pretensions  of  the  converts  at  home, 

x 1 The  barriers 

the  aggressive  character  of  Romanism,  be-  of  exclusion 

. . thrown 

guiled  by  no  sophistries  of  profit  or  pleas-  down,  and 
ure,  Japan  held  to  her  isolation  until  in  the 
progress  of  European  ideas  her  rulers  were  convinced 
they  might  venture  to  throw  down  their  artificial  bar- 
riers and  admit  Aryan  creeds  and  civilizations  to 
compete  with  and  modify  their  own.  For  several 
centuries  Japan  had  been  consistent  to  her  system  of 
self-protection ; nor  did  she  swerve  one  hair’s  breadth 
from  it  before  persuaded  that  the  baneful  spirit  of 
European  adventure,  whether  under  the  guise  of  com- 
merce or  religion,  had  come  under  the  wholesome 
restraints  of  enlightened  public  law  and  sounder 
opinions  as  to  international  duties  and  rights.  Be- 
lieving that  the  time  has  arrived  when  she  can  with 
safety  fall  into  the. line  of  outside  civilizations,  she  does 
so  with  almost  precipitate  haste.  Electing  to  live  or 
die  by  her  experiment  of  novel  habits  and  ideas,  she 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


29 


has  begun  to  cultivate  those  radical  changes  at  which 
she  was  formerly  so  alarmed.  With  what  final  re- 
sult who  may  foresee  ? Spain,  on  the  contrary,  during 
her  probationary  period,  by  persistingly  opposing  force 
to  ideas  with  self-destructive  bigotry,  finished  by  ruin 
and  disgrace,  and  now  presents  a pitiful  spectacle  of 
misplaced  logic,  paying  dearly  for  her  credal  infatua- 
tion, A nation  like  Japan,  which  is  sagacious  at 
fending  off  evils  while  it  can,  and  wise  in  accepting 
the  inevitable  when  it  must,  turning  each  opposite 
policy  to  present  advantage,  displays  a solidarity  of 
character  piloted  by  an  efficacious  policy  that  tempts 
to  a closer  investigation  of  the  constituents  of  its  pe- 
culiar civilization. 

My  topic,  however,  confines  me  to  its  artistic  ele- 
ments. But  to  obtain  a clear  view  of  art  The  ele_ 
we  must  look  at  everything  that  enters  into  Japanese 
its  composition.  To  a certain  extent,  it  is  arfc- 
quite  as  much  the  outgrowths  of  political  and  relig- 
ious sentiments  as  of  the  more  material  interests  of 
a people  or  the  physical  conditions  of  their  country. 
The  civilization  of  Japan,  as  a whole,  engendered  a 
general  well-being  and  happiness  which  left  little  to 
be  envied  elsewhere,  even  if  the  inhabitants  had  pos- 
sessed means  of  comparing  their  lot  with  other  na- 
tions. Indeed,  as  regards  art  within  their  confined 
scope,  they  were  in  advance  of  all  others  at  the  date 
of  opening  the  country  to  foreign  intercourse.  There 
had  been  a slow  decadence,  it  is  true ; but  thanks  to 
their  forcible  isolation,  neither  so  radical  nor  general 
as  that  of  Europe  since  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
was  also  with  Japan  the  best  period  of  its  develop- 
ment. Amongst  other  evidences  of  its  superior  con- 
dition, Japan  early  secured  to  itself  the  significant 


80  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


designation  of  “ Land  of  Great  Peace.”  Rarely  tor- 
men  ted  by  a lust  of  conquest,  or  racked  by 
Great  ’eace.  C[Y[\  strife,  its  peaceful  decades  were  highly 
favorable  to  the  complete  growth  of  its  special  art, 
whilst  contemporary  Europe  was  in  a chronic  state 
of  internecine  combat,  and  its  spasmodic  progress  one 
broad  trail  of  human  blood.  On  its  side,  Japanese 
paganism  presents  a spectacle  of  an  almost  serene 
contentment.  The  civil  and  religious  institutions  har- 
moniously interblended  and  nearly  two-score  mil- 
lions of  our  fellow  beings,  living  in  fortunate  igno- 
rance of  our  superior  advantages,  became  wonderfully 
advanced  in  certain  phases  of  the  arts  and  capacity 
of  taking  care  of  themselves,  respectably  proficient 
in  literature,  ethics,  and  philosophy  ; and  grew  to  be 
highly  polished  in  manners,  peaceful,  industrious, 
asking  nothing  better  of  the  outer  world  than  to  be 
let  alone,  satisfied  to  subsist  on  their  own  resources 
and  in  their  own  fashion,  whilst  one  hundred  mil- 
lions of  men  in  Europe,  who  worshipped  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  in  his  abused  name  were  cutting  each 
other’s  throats,  destroying  each  other’s  property,  tor- 
turing and  proselyting  by  rack  and  flames,  and  all 
this  out  of  a tender  regard  for  each  other’s  eternal 
welfare,  if  we  accept  their  common  explanations  of 
the  singular  scene. 

However  heathenish  their  ways  and  ideas,  the 
Japanese  managed  to  conserve  as  regards 
morals  and  civil  intercourse  and  general  order,  a prac- 
tical morality  to  which  Europe  was  a 
stranger.  As  a rule,  the  people  were  singularly  hos- 
pitable and  amiable,  as  well  as  ceremoniously  polite. 
Each  degree  in  the  social  state  had  its  conservative 
barriers  sacred  to  all.  The  matrons,  if  somewhat 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


3, 


untutored  according  to  Anglo-Saxon  notions  of  mod 
esty  in  some  matters  of  toilette,  were  otherwise  above, 
reproach ; whilst  their  daughters  were  as  chaste  and 
decorous  as  those  of  Christian  lineage  anywhere,  if 
we  may  credit  those  writers  who  know  them  best. 
It  is  as  unfair  to  judge  of  female  character  in  Japan 
from  its  harlotry,  high  or  low,  as  to  do  the  same 
of  English  or  French  womanhood  by  the  examples 
Paris  and  London  display,  either  of  fashionable  or 
vulgar  prostitution,  or  prurient  extremes  in  manners 
of  any  origin.  Yet  some  travellers  do  this  in  Japan, 
heedless  of  their  ignorance  of  its  true  life,  and  reck- 
less of  the  exposure  of  their  own  proclivities.  If  we 
can  rely  on  the  official  statistics  of  1872,  Japan  is 
far  more  fortunate  than  Europe  as  regards  criminals. 
Out  of  6,564  persons  confined  in  the  pris-  Criminal 
ons,  averaging  only  one  in  5,500  of  the  en-  statistics- 
tire  population,  there  were  only  565  women.  This 
paucity  of  criminals  in  their  sex  cannot  be  owing  to 
social  restrictions  which  shield  them  from  the  usual 
temptations  of  men  ; for  they  not  onty  figure  numer- 
ously in  the  ranks  of  the  Buddhist  and  Shintd  sects  in 
various  sacred  offices,  there  being  nearly  300,000  of 
them  thus  employed,  but  out  of  the  millions  engaged 
in  farming,  almost  one  half  are  women,  and  in  trade 
489,409  are  enrolled  as  against  819,782  men  ; all 
which  show  that  women  can  compete  with  men  in 
various  avocations.  Evidently  Japan  has  advanced 
habits,  if  without  abstract  theories  of  women’s  rights, 
whilst  managing  to  live  with  fewer  male  criminals 
than  wre  do,  and  almost  no  female  convicts. 

Need  we  marvel  that  Japan  for  a time  tabooed  it- 
self to  pugnacious  saints,  and  traders  of  the  European 
breed,  and  only  allowed  them  to  enter  when  they  had 


>2 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


•earned  to  behave  like  good  pagans,  or  at  least 
showed  a respect  for  others’  rights  and  opinions  ! As 
regards  the  disposition  to  learn  from  foreigners  what- 
ever they  could  without  the  risk  of  political  suicide, 
the  Japanese  displayed  a singularly  unchristian  trait, 
as  well  as  in  not  trying  to  convert  strangers  by  force 
or  persecution  to  their  own  beliefs.  They  not  merely 
permitted  rival  religions  with  their  numerous  sub- 
divisions freely  to  exist,  but  with  an  eclectic  liber- 
ality and  sagacious  free  thought  seldom  if  ever  prac- 
ticed elsewhere,  founded  the  rationalistic  sect  of 
Shingakei,  which  sought  to  combine  what  was  most 
edifying  in  the  doctrines  of  Confucius,  Buddha,  and 
the  aboriginal  ShintO  teachings,  with  a more  practi- 
cal and  simple  form  of  religion.  Shintdism,  be  it 
remembered,  besides  the  worship  of  the  spiritual 
gods,  the  creators  and  protectors  of  Japan  from  time 
immemorial,  those  grand  mythological  figures  dimly 
seen  in  the  first  daybreak  of  history,  included  the 
earliest  benefactors  of  humanity,  whose  good  deeds,  as 
with  the  saints  of  the  Roman  calendar,  caused  their 
semi-deification  by  a grateful  posterity. 

Kamism,  which  is  the  same  as  ShintOism,1  even 
Kamism.or  antedates  the  historical  annals  which  go 
Shintoism.  back  to  660  years  before  Christ,  and  still 
maintains  its  position  as  the  national  religion  most 
favored  by  the  Mikados,  just  as  Buddhism  was  en- 
couraged by  the  usurping  Shogoons.  As  it  appears 
to  have  emanated  from  the  aspirations  of  an  almost 
guileless  period  of  a remote  antiquity,  it  is  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  primitive  of  religions,  and  not  mate- 
rially changed  in  its  chief  external  characteristics,  al- 

1 Shinto  is  a Chinese  term,  signifying  “The  wav  of  Spirits,”  the  origi- 
nal Japanese  word  being  unknown  : but  its  successor  implies  also  “ Wor- 
ship of  ancestors.” 


» 


i 


! 


I 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


33 


though  its  earliest  doctrines  are  either  much  trans- 
formed in  spirit,  or  quite  forgotten  by  the  masses. 
Scholars  alone  know  what  these  are,  while  nowhere 
are  all  the  rites  preserved  in  precisely  their  original 
purity  and  meaning,  or  the  dogmas  preached  pre- 
cisely as  first  established.  So  simple  were  they,  ad- 
ministered, too,  without  the  intervention  of  a paid 
priesthood,  or  a privileged  proselyting  hierarchy,  by 
the  lay-worsliippers  themselves  after  the  manner  of 
our  Quakers,  that  we  may  easily  conceive  Shint6ism 
to  have  been  the  spontaneous  devotion  of  a simple- 
hearted,  spiritual-minded  race,  towards  their  supposed 
creators,  or  benefactors,  in  the  spring-time  of  their 
sensations  and  sentiments,  moved  by  a desire  to  find 
out  the  cause  of  their  being,  and  to  develop  and 
strengthen  their  conceptions  of  an  ideal  standard  of 
purity  and  goodness.  Certainly,  as  we  are  informed 
of  its  rites,  they  indicate  quite  the  reverse  of  the 
hardness  of  heart  and  tendency  to  idolatry  which 
our  catechisms  have  taught  us  to  be  the  universal 
traits  of  heathenism.  Indeed,  taking  this  worship  as 
described  by  Koemffer,  even  of  the  tutelary  spirits 
known  as  Kamis,  it  reads  like  a beautiful  idyl,  or  a 
symbolization  of  the  spiritual  elements  of  faith  and 
being  under  the  purest  and  most  appropriate  forms. 

Where  may  we  find  a more  apt  emblem  of  the 
divine  scrutiny  into  the  hearts  of  men,  than 
their  highly  polished  mirrors  of  steel,  sym- 
bols of  the  all-seeing  Eye,  placed  on  plain  altars 
decorated  with  flowers  in  the  centre  of  the  small 
rustic  chapels  devoted  to  this  worship  ? These  were 
supposed  to  reflect  whatever  emotions  were  upper- 
most in  those  who  looked  into  them,  and  to  detect 
and  expose  unworthy  thoughts  and  passions.  How 
3 


34  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


might  rites  be  more  free  of  incitements  to  supersti- 
tion and  idolatry  than  those  within  shrines,  whose 
chief  adornment  consisted  of  white-paper  hangings 
to  denote  their  purity,  and  to  remind  their  visitors 
they  were  to  present  themselves  before  the  tell-tale 
mirror  with  spotless  hearts  and  clean  bodies  ? Among 
what  other  sects  do  we  find  an  equally  refined  sym- 
pathy with  nature  at  large  and  as  full  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  mystic  relations  of  the  landscape  with 
man  as  imaging  a divine,  creative,  controlling  power, 
than  is  exhibited  in  the  selection  of  the  umbrageous 
sites  for  the  Shintd  temples,  with  their  commanding 
views,  approached  by  clean,  paved  stairs,  through 
wide  entrances,  at  which  were  placed  stone  basins 
holding  the  waters  of  ablution  ? 

As  this  religion  had  nothing  to  conceal,  no  mystic 
terrors  in  reserve,  nothing  to  threaten  or  to  make 
afraid,  the  interiors  of  its  shrines  were  freely  exposed 
to  view.  There  were  neither  images  nor  complicated 
rites  to  distract  the  worshipper  from  prayer  and  self- 
examination.  No  priestly  caste  officiated  in  them 
with  prescribed  ceremonials ; but  they  were  invitingly 
open  to  all  comers  to  worship  as  their  consciences 
dictated,  without  the  suggestion  even  of  any  of  the 
usual  ecclesiastical  barriers  of  bigotry  or  distinction 
of  persons.  Each  might  leave  an  offering  in  the  gift- 
box  or  not,  as  inclined.  Literally,  these  were  verita- 
ble houses  of  God,  hospitably  welcoming  saint  and 
sinner  without  price. 

The  moral  significance  and  spiritual  suggestion  of 
this  seemingly  spontaneous  worship  — for  I 

Moral  sig-  . ? r _ . . . . , 

nificance  of  believe  it  was  born  thus  ot  intuition  despite 
the  snags  of  Darwinism  — were  as  intelli- 
gible to  the  common  mind  as  its  symbolism  was  clear 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


35 


and  direct.  By  its  simple  imagery,  every  one  could 
adore  or  supplicate  the  divine  ideal  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness without  offense  to  his  neighbor,  or  inciting 
controversy,  the  more  especially  that  there  were  no 
entanglements  of  priestcraft  of  any  species,  or  fore- 
gone dogmas,  to  mystify  his  mind  and  put  impossible 
gulfs  between  him  and  his  kind.  The  supreme  Lord 
sees  the  heart  and  none  but  He  can  be  its  judge  ; 
adore ; the  entire  earth  is  his  tabernacle,  nothing  is 
hidden  from  Him  and  nothing  should  be  from  his 
creature  ; welcome  without  fear  ; all  are  equal  before 
Him.  Such  appears  to  be  the  essence  of  this  soul- 
worship  in  its  pristine  integrity,  at  all  times  dedi- 
cated to  good-will  and  a sound  conscience  among 
men.  A more  felicitous  solution  of  the  vexed  prob- 
lem of  a free  church  and  state  with  voluntary  wor- 
ship based  on  complete  individual  liberty  and  the  re- 
lations of  Man  to  his  Maker,  as  of  child  to  parent,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  originate. 

Independent  of  their  spiritual  efficacy,  such  simple 
rites  amidst  picturesque  surroundings  must 

■t  * ” Fostered 

have  fostered  the  close  sympathy  with  the  sympathy 
natural  world,  both  in  its  realistic  and  mys- 
tical aspects,  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  Japanese  art, 
and  which  is  without  parallel  in  any  other  people. 
There  must  be  also  something  essentially  sound  in 
the  religious  constitution  of  Kamism,  which  has  en- 
abled it  to  survive  to  our  times,  still  swaying  the 
minds  of  many  millions.  Undoubtedly,  as  with  the 
Semitic  or  Tauranian  races,  it  is  due  to  its  central 
abstract  idea  of  a Supreme  Being,  impersonal  and 
omnipresent  in  Himself,  even  when  represented  by 
legions  of  incarnations,  under  various  forms  and 
qualities,  beneficent  or  otherwise.  The  main  princi- 


36  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


pie  underlying  all,  is  the  absolute  impersonal  unity  of 
the  divine  creative  power.  This  distinguishes  Shinto- 
ism from  Buddhism  and  Brahmanism,  in  the  same 
way  that  it  draws  the  theological  lines  between  Ju- 
daism, or  its  near  relation  Islamism,  and  Romanism 
with  its  outgrowths  of  Protestantism.  In  none  of 
their  forms  is  there  any  intentional  idolatry,  whilst 
all  have  a common  aim  in  promoting  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  mankind.  The  fact  of  adhering  to  any 
one  of  the  multifarious  aspects  of  these  diverse  re- 
ligious ideals,  is  with  almost  all  men  an  accident 
of  birth,  temperament,  or  interest,  rather  than  of 
downright  conviction.  Perhaps  nothing  determines 
the  choice  of  a faith  oftener  than  the  aesthetic  tem- 
perament of  an  individual.  If  he  be  inclined  to  the 
abstract,  indifferent  to  sensuous  appeals  to  his  relig- 
ious faculties,  naturally  he  prefers  those  rites  which 
put  his  soul  in  most  direct  communion  with-  the  Su- 
preme, however  much  he  may  like  to  pamper  his 
body  with  sensual  indulgence  or  materialize  art  to 
now  art  af-  his  pleasure.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  can 
i£oushtem-  feel  truth,  or  reach  his  ideal  only  or  chiefly 
perament.  foy  the  medium  of  the  plastic  arts,  he 
cleaves  to  those  sects  which  most  completely  admin- 
ister to  the  wants  of  his  soul  through  an  aesthetic 
medium.  The  extremes  of  all  religions  of  necessity 
point  to  an  abstract  unity  of  idea,  but  the  roads  lead- 
ing to  it  are  many  and  variable. 

Although  we  can  divide  all  believers  into  these  two 
grand  divisions  as  to  forms,  yet  every  mind  contains 
the  germs  of  both  inclinations,  each  of  which  need 
equal  and  complete  development  to  make  the  perfect 
man  ; but  they  seldom  secure  this  through  the  ordi- 
nary channels  of  cultivation.  Consequently,  religions 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN . 


37 


and  men  are  invariably  one-sided  in  their  training, 
and  liable  to  fluctuations  of  feeling  and  convictions. 
Shintdism  was  perhaps  too  severely  abstract  for  the 
average  Japanese  mind,  and  too  meagre  externally  to 
satisfy  the  sensuous  side  of  his  organization,  devel- 
oped as  it  was  by  a passionate  enthusiasm  for  art- 
language  in  all  other  forms  of  life.  Hence,  about 
the  beginning  of  our  era,  when  Buddhism 

T . Introduc- 

was  introduced  into  Japan  it  spread  rapidly  tionof  Bud- 

A . 1 i 1 • i dhism  and 

among  all  classes,  because  it  brought  with  effect  on 

. & i i Kamism. 

it  a redundant  aesthetic  element  which  ap- 
peased the  longings  of  their  senses  for  the  outward 
symbols  of  ecclesiastical  magnificence,  parade,  beliefs, 
and  the  material  images  of  the  beings  venerated, 
feared,  or  worshipped,  as  well  as  the  pictorial  scenes 
of  whatever  facts  or  issues  there  were  connected  with 
the  worship.  Buddhism  closely  resembles  Roman- 
ism in  its  aesthetic  devices  and  latitude  of  material 
imagery,  not  to  call  it  idolatry,  which  both  disavow, 
however  idolatrous  the  excess  in  this  direction  causes 
the  common  mind  to  become  in  practice.  Indeed, 
Buddhism  in  Japan  is  less  daring  than  Romanism, 
for  it  limits  its  highest  efforts  in  image-adoration  to 
the  effigy  of  the  founder  of  the  faith,  whilst  Roman- 
ism soars  to  depicting  the  Almighty  under  the  form 
of  an  aged  man.  But  Buddhism  did  finally  impose  a 
part  of  its  paraphernalia  on  Shintoism,  peacefully,  so 
it  would  seem,  in  the  form  of  altar  decorations,  a lit- 
any, miraculous  images,  processions,  a special  class  of 
noble  laymen  whose  business  was  to  officiate  in  and 
take  care  of  the  sacred  places,  assuming  particular 
vestments  while  on  service,  and  of  an  order  of  monks 
charged  to  direct  and  provide  for  pilgrims  who  visited 
the  shrines.  Shintoism  in  return  lent  to  its  rival  its 


38  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


sacred  mirror  to  be  placed  on  the  altars,  and  some  of 
Kirin  and  its  later-introduced  effigies,  such  as  Kirin, 
Koma-inow.  fantastic  unicorn,  symbol  of  good  au- 
gury, ‘and  the  equally  strangely  constructed  dog-lion, 
Koma-inow,  a sort  of  chimera  symbolizing  the  purify- 
ing elements  of  fire  and  water,  to  be  also  guardians 
to  the  temples  of  Buddha.  Since  the  recent  official 
suppression  of  monasteries  in  Japan,  the  government 
has  attempted  to  remove  from  the  Shinto  temples  all 
the  Buddhist  innovations  countenanced  by  the  late 
Sli6goons  and  restore  them  somewhat  to  their  origi- 
nal condition.  As  the  ruling  and  cultured  clases  are 
mainly  skeptical  as  to  all  religions,  philosophically 
indifferent,  or  else  outright  materialists,  these  changes 
of  forms  are  only  on  the  surface  and  for  political  ef- 
fect, whilst  the  confiscations  and  destruction  of  time- 
honored  sanctuaries  and  the  conversion  of  Buddhist 
nuns  and  monks  into  serviceable  Japanese  men  and 
women,  are  very  sincere  and  complete.  In  evidence 
of  the  present  absolute  religious  toleration  of  the  Jap- 
anese, I cite  the  recent  instance  of  the  Rev.  Nee  Sima, 
a native  scholar  educated  in  the  United  States,  and 
converted  to  Protestant  Christianity.  On  his  return 
to  Japan  he  was  not  only  permitted  to  preach  and 
Destruction  proselytize  in  Buddhist  temples,  but  these 
°f  xdois.  Were  thronged  with  hearers  among  whom 
were  some  of  the  officiating  priests.  He  made  a 
number  of  converts  who,  with  the  usual  fanatacism  of 
their  class,  began  at  once  to  destroy  their  so-called 
idols,  as  if  they  were  still  afraid  of  them. 

Our  business,  however,  is  with  the  past.  The  mu- 
tual helpfulness  of  Shintoism  and  Buddhism,  and 
ability  to  live  together  in  peace,  opposed  as  they  were 
in  so  many  outward  observances  and  ideas,  are  a re- 


— 


I 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


39 


proach  to  the  religious  history  of  Europe  during  the 
same  long  period.  And  the  lesson  becomes  the  more 
marked  as  we  find  that  neither  was  affrighted  at  the 
appearance  beside  them  in  intellectual  rivalry  of  the 
rationalistic  doctrines  of  Confucius  and  of 
Mencius,  which,  based  on  human  reason  and  tion  of  doc- 

.....  . . . trines  of 

materialistic  thought,  were  a virtual  nega-  Confucius 
tion  of  their  fundamental  beliefs  and  tra- 
ditions. As  early  as  A.  D.  285,  Ozin,  the  reigning 
Mikado,  himself  the  alter-ego  of  the  Supreme  Lord 
of  Creation,  with  a liberality  of  judgment  which 
makes  the  broadest  church  of  Christendom  seem  nar- 
row and  doctrinal,  requested  the  sovereign  of  Corea 
to  send  to  Japan  the  philosopher  Wang  Iin,  to  inform 
his  subjects  as  to  the  prevailing  religion  of  China. 
His  practical  ethics  were  so  much  appreciated  that 
the  ShintO  religionists  enrolled  him  among  their  Ka- 
mis  — a species  of  canonization,  — as  a public  bene- 
factor, instead  of  crucifying  him,  testing  the  sound- 
ness of  his  tenets  by  roasting  him  on  a gridiron,  or 
consigning  him  to  an  “ auto-da-fe,”  as  was  long  time 
the  orthodox  method  in  Europe  of  welcoming  new 
doctrines.  A politic  race  this,  humanely  wise  ; one 
that  could  conciliate  credal  antagonisms,  and  put 
them  to  account  as  instructors  of  society  instead  of 
using  them  as  ferocious  instruments  for  quenching 
thought,  rending  nations  into  mutilated  fragments, 
and  turning  an  entire  continent  into  a sanguinary 
cock-pit,  or  a wilting  despotism.  What  wonder,  I 
repeat,  that  these  sagacious  children  of  the  Orient, 
this  “ Land  of  Great  Peace,”  although  at  first  giving 
a welcome  to  Roman  missionaries,  as  willing  to  learn 
from  them  as  they  had  been  from  their  Indian  and 
Chinese  predecessors,  when  they  perceived  the  quality 


40  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Isolation  of 
Japan 
favored  its 
special  ar- 
tistic and 
intellectual 
develop- 
ment. 


of  their  new  teachers  and  tasted  the  first  fruits  of 
their  proselytism,  what  wonder  that  they  imitated 
the  examples  shown  in  the  history  of  Europe  by  the 
fellow-religionists  of  these  very  missionaries,  taught 
and  upheld  by  their  church  whenever  it  encountered 
difference  of  opinion,  and  applying  their  own  rules 
and  practice  to  them  and  their  neophytes,  utterly 
stamped  out  of  existence  both  tenets  and  converts, 
and  hermetically  sealed  their  country  thenceforward 
against  any  similar  experiment ! 

The  long  tranquil  isolation  of  Japan  excluding  all 
foreign  influences  likely  to  harass  it,  was 
favorable  to  the  growth  of  its  own  indige- 
nous tendencies  of  art  and  forms  of  civiliza- 
tion having  their  germs  deep  in  ancestral 
blood.  How  these  primitive  currents  of 
mind  and  feeling  originate  is  a problem  as  profound 
as  the  existence  of  man  himself.  He  exists,  and  with 
him  fundamental  differences  of  mental  and  physical 
organism  that  diversely  affect  the  nations  that  are 
born  of  him,  and  these  differences  seem  to  intensify 
as  we  trace  them  to  their  present  sources.  Each 
seed-race  asserts  that  its  primeval  ideas  and  inven- 
tions are  the  direct  gift  of  the  gods.  The  wisdom 
that  created  man  seemingly  endowed  his  mind  with 
definite  intuitions  which  pushed  it  in  certain  direc- 
tions, permitting  its  action  to  be  modified  by  the 
pressure  of  external  conditions,  but  not  forced  from 
its  first  impulses.  At  least,  as  I search  history,  this 
seems  much  more  probable  than  that  he  was  entirely 
abandoned  like  a stray  atom  to  the  material  chances 
of  his  arduous  existence,  with  no  inspirations  or  con- 
trolling influences  except  such  as  sheer  physical  neces- 
sity developed.  Further,  I infer  from  the  story  of  his 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


41 


moral  and  intellectual  progress,  that  from  time  to 
time  his  intuitions  have  been  strengthened  or  modi- 
fied by  fresher  currents  of  the  divine  creative  thought 
which  originates  all  things,  and  is  its  own  supreme 
law.  In  face  of  the  popular  theories  of  science,  this 
confession  of  a belief  as  old  as  the  world,  but  now 
condemned  by  the  self-styled  advanced  thought  of  the 
age,  must  appear  foolish.  Be  this  as  it  may,  striking 
varieties  of  a common  human  type  do  yet  exist,  each 
after  its  own  fashion  obedient  -to  an  original  special 
mental  impetus,  and  contributing  to  the  universal 
treasury  of  knowledge  of  humanity.  Out  of  this 
common  wealth  may  there  not  be  constructed,  finally, 
a complete  human  type,  perfected  by  the  painful  ges- 
tations of  all  the  tentative  civilizations  of  our  globe  ? 

In  the  outset  of  our  scrutiny  into  one  of  the  aes- 
thetic periods  of  human  progress  of  a race  Intuiti(m 
differing  as  widely  as  possible  from  our  own,  and  Rcahsm 


as  bases  of 
art. 


I declare  thus  emphatically  my  persuasion 
that  something  besides  the  direct  mundane  causes  are 


necessary  to  account  for  all  man’s  progress,  chiefly  be- 
cause the  specious  philosophy  of  art  taught  by  Taine 
and  his  school  seeks  to  reduce  it  to  a mere  formula  of 
climate,  food,  and  the  material  and  sensual  belongings 
of  a people  ; thus  giving  all  the  reason  of  the  in- 
tellectual phenomena  to  the  physical  agencies  of  life, 
while  wholly  ignoring  intuitive  principles  of  develop- 
ment. However  much  the  external  world  may  tem- 
per or  control  the  aesthetic  faculty,  it  cannot  wholly 
account  for  its  existence  or  explain  its  highest  works. 
Something  more  than  visible  matter  is  needed  to 
show  us  why  certain  peoples  as  one  mind  run  in  one 
psychological  groove,  however  diversified  their  ma- 
terial conditions  ; also  why  one  race,  under  equal  and 


42  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


common  conditions,  often  exhibit  such  varying  and 
contradictory  aesthetic  aspects.  In  every  instance  in 
which  art  has  become  an  eminent  characteristic  of  a 
people,  it  is  found  to  be  deeply  rooted  in  those  senti- 
ments which  connect  it  most  closely  with  intuitions 
or  beliefs  of  another  life,  or  else  its  methods  of  inter- 
preting nature  as  the  symbolical  correspondence  or 
tangible  manifestation  of  its  ideal  of  an  existence 
apart  from  and  above  its  own.  The  visible  evidences 
of  this  intuitive  aspiration  or  faith  follow  the  scale  of 
mental  elevation,  descending  in  aesthetic  motives 
from  the  celestial-supernatural  toward  the  human- 
natural,  borrowing  its  ideals  from  either  world  just 
as  the  mind  gravitates  from  spiritual  apprehensions  to 
material  perceptions,  and  is  lofty  or  low  in  artistic 
speech,  but  ever  proclaiming  an  informing  spirit, 
whether  of  the  heavens,  earths,  or  hells,  and  borrowing 
its  illustrations  from  those  conceptions  of  things  which 
make  up  the  heaven  or  hell  of  its  intuitive  desires.  It 
is  plausible  to  account  for  the  superficial  phenomena 
of  art  by  referring  them  all  to  the  external  world 
about  it ; but  we  must  go  behind  mere  form  and  color 
to  detect  the  potent  intangible  springs  of  existence 
which  animate  these  puppets  of  the  eye.-  Where  are 
we  to  look  for  them  except  in  those  intuitions  with 
which  the  soul  is  freighted  when  it  first  comes  to 
earth ; whose  force  is  ever  manifested  by  a longing  for 
an  ideal  not  of  the  earth  and  whose  presence  can  only 
be  explained  by  accepting  it  at  its  word  as  an  augury 
of  a superior  life  to  be,  or  else  the  dim  reminiscence  of 
one  gone  — in  either  case  another  existence  ? 

The  real  touchstone 'of  art  is  its  recognition  of  this 
Recognition  ideal,  or  belief  in  something  better  than 
of  the  ideal,  what  the  senses  perceive,  and  its  endeavor 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


43 


so  to  use  dumb  materials  as  to  suggest  the  spiritual 
constitution  of  things  rather  than  the  grosser  proper- 
ties of  matter.  Whatever  work  falls  short  of  this, 
however  clever  of  manual  stroke  and  close  imitation, 
or  pleasing  to  the  lower  plane  of  aesthetic  conscious- 
ness, fails  in  the  supreme  satisfaction  which  comes 
from  meeting  face  to  face  with  the  soul’s  conception 
of  an  ideal  perfection  in  life  past,  present,  or  to  come. 
Discernible  by  the  clairvoyant  eye  of  an  artistic  im- 
agination, even  inanimate  objects  become  informed 
with  the  spiritual  essence  of  life  in  virtue  of  their  own 
being  ; doubly  so  all  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  in 
infinite  degree  man  is  seen  to  be  surcharged  with  the 
creative  free-will.  Hands  which  stop  short  in  their 
work  at  the  outward  shell,  give  us  only  the  dumb 
envelope  and  blank  machinery  of  being,  for  these 
form  an  impenetrable  barrier  to  their  higher  vision. 
The  hidden  sources  of  life  do  not  reveal  themselves  to 
unsensitive  organs  whose  sympathies  belong  only  to 
the  crust  of  things. 

How  differently  two  artists  paint  the  same  land- 
scape ! One  executes  a picture  with  topo-  Materiai  and 
graphical  fidelity  and  details  of  stony  exact-  ldeal  art‘ 
ness,  and  cold  rigidity  of  form  and  color,  passionless, 
emotionless,  mutely  repellant ; giving  no  higher  evi- 
dence of  life  than  a clever  counterfeit  of  the  sub- 
stances in  view,  “ a painted  ship  on  a painted  ocean,” 
but  unlike  the  Ancient  Mariner,  telling  no  tale. 
But,  vivified  by  the  informing  stroke  of  the  artist  who 
recognizes  the  undying  spirit  of  nature  so  preemi- 
nently shown  in  man,  guiding  his  destiny  by  material 
means  to  divine  conclusions,  combining  all  created 
things  into  a choral  unity  of  final  purpose,  the  little 
leading  straightway  to  the  great,  finite  to  infinite ; 


44  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


quickened  by  this  silent  speech,  art  becomes  at  once  a 
revelation  and  the  solution  of  immortality.  Art  need 
not  always  be  pitched  on  the  supernatural  or  super- 
fine to  reveal  the  presence  of  conscious  spirit,  for  we 
can  find  happiness  and  edification  in  its  manifestations 
Nothing  un-  the  humblest  forms  as  well  as  the  noblest. 
bymaScept  Nothing  made  by  divine  power,  or  created 
own  win.  ou£  0£  rjches  0f  our  own  imaginings,  is 

unworthy  or  unclean  unless  by  the  prostitution  of  our 
own  wills  to  evil  or  weak  purposes.  Science  rightly 
calls  this  kind  of  language  vague  speculation  as 
viewed  from  its  own  basis  of  matter-of-fact  analysis 
and  deduction.  But  art,  too,  has  its  own  rules  and 
forms  of  language  consistent  with  its  proper  being 
and  purpose.  Neither  can  be  rightly  appreciated 
when  viewed  only  through  the  mental  atmosphere  of 
the  other.  The  true  word  of  life  of  art  comes  from  a 
spiritual  insight  into  its  motives  rather  than  from  a 
scientific  perception  of  their  material  machinery, 
which  at  best  can  only  be  a technical  help  towards  a 
thorough  rendering  of  the  informing  sentiment.  To 
paint  a mouth  in  sole  reference  to  its  adaptation  to 
eating  is  quite  another  thing  from  painting  it  to 
express  the  emotions  which  intensify  its  movements 
with  pleasure  or  pain  ; so  with  the  nose,  eyes,  or  en- 
tire figure.  However  perfect  in  modeling  and  life-like 
in  tint,  it  is  only  a dumb  effigy  until  the  artist  endows 
it  with  the  human  soul  and  sets  it  in  motion. 

European  . 

art  sden-  European  art  of  our  time  has  a marked  ten- 
eseuieaiistic  dency  towards  the  scientific  extreme,  con- 
tenting itself  over-much  with  the  dumb  show 
of  material  objects, 'and  finding  its  supreme  satisfac- 
tion in  their  outward  likeness.  Japanese  art  tips  the 
aesthetic  scale  towards  the  other  extreme,  paying  less 


' V 

\ 


',Y 


StVj 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN. 


45 

heed  to  the  grammar  of  art,  and  bestowing  its  greatest 
attention  on  the  vivid  rendering  of  the  specific  motive 
in  its  highest  scale  of  idealization.  In  other  words,  it 
conceives  art  to  be  a supreme  spiritual  function  of 
man,  appealing  to  his  faculties  of  mind  more  than  to 
those  of  his  body,  and  best  fulfilling  its  office  when  it 
affects  the  imagination  by  limitless  capacity  of  sugges- 
tion in  preference  to  pleasing  the  senses  by  superior 
skill  of  a downright  realistic  imitation.  Its  abstract 
superiority,  therefore,  rests  on  its  profound  recogni- 
tion of  the  higher  to  the  lower  law  of  art.  As  this  is 
precisely  the  reverse  with  the  average  practice  of  mod- 
ern European  art,  both  reader  and  artist,  in  examining 
the  objects  we  shall  briefly  review,  may  be  profitably 
reminded  of  the  past  times  in  Europe  when  its  art, 
acting  on  a similar  impulse,  produced  works  which  we 
now  vainly  attempt  to  rival,  or  even  imitate,  simply 
from  too  closely  following  an  opposite  principle. 

The  two  chief  branches  of  the  human  family,  both 
originating  in  Central  Asia,  and  which  have 

, & . , . . .....  , Aryan  and 

developed  the  highest  civilizations,  are  the  Turanian 
Aryan  and  Turanian.  Guided  by  its  no-  the  human 

J . *1  . . family. 

madic  instincts  in  the  outset  of  its  historical 
career,  the  latter  became  widely  diffused  and  separa- 
ted, whilst  the  former  remained  in  more  centralized 
and  compact  masses.  Each  distinguished  itself  by 
characteristics  that  have  slowly  crystallized  into  na- 
tional idiosyncracies,  more  or  less  antagonistic  and 
one-sided  as  regards  one  another,  and  ending  in  fixed 
expressions  of  civil  and  religious  life.  Owing  to  the 
expansion  of  commerce  these  last  have  been  brought 
into  direct  competition,  to  stand  or  fall  on  their  own 
merits ; possibly  to  intermingle,  and  out  of  the  truths 
of  all  civilizations  to  erect  a new  platform  of  progress 
for  the  whole  human  race. 


46  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


The  Aryan  branch,  whose  latest  family  achieve- 
ment is  the  unaesthetic  restless  American  people,  has 
been  remarkable  for  irrepressible  action  and  experi- 
ment, intense  individualism,  rivalry,  versatility,  con- 
ceit, discontent,  invention  and  enterprise,  love  of  ex- 
citement and  extreme  sensations,  contempt  of  peril 
and  death,  frequent  rebound  of  ideas  and  psycholog- 
ical revolutions,  with  terrible  penalties  inflicted  on 
their  much  coveted  material  acquisitions,  and  protests 
of  soul  against  the  tyranny  of  matter  ; probing,  prov- 
ing, testing  all  questions  in  the  crucibles  of  reason 
or  profitableness,  the  while  steadily  consolidating  its 
gains  into  a compact,  humane,  international  life. 
Among  the  Turanian  races  we  find  much  of  a directly 
opposite  character.  They  have  shown  themselves  re- 
served, exclusive,  conservative,  custom-abiding,  stub- 
born in  their  policy,  identifying  their  ideas  closely 
with  the  past,  their  ancestors  and  religions  rather 
than  self-seeking,  skeptical  or  inquisitive  as  to  the 
future,  deeply  imbued  with  the  consciousness  of  an- 
other life,  mystical  more  than  speculative,  strenuous 
to  conserve  their  isolations  and  their  antique  institu- 
tions, whilst  their  fickle  and  emotional  Aryan  brothers 
were  often  overturning  and  remaking  theirs.  A note- 
worthy aesthetic  trait  of  the  Turanian  is  his  passion 
for  color,  whilst  the  Aryan  shows  a preference  for 
pure  form,  though  in  each  the  temperament  takes 
readily  to  the  other  art  expression.  Nevertheless,  the 
predominance  of  brilliant  traits  in  their  art,  and  abso- 
lute delight  therein,  used  with  intuitive  sagacity  and 
appreciation  of  harmonious  contrasts,  gradations,  and 
interblendings,  as  it  were  forming  refined  symphonies 
or  spiritual  chords  of  colors,  are  a special  heritage  or 
instinct  of  the  Turanian  family ; just  as  those  of 


ITS  BASIS  AND  ORIGIN 


47 


Aryan  descent  are  more  distinguished  by  sculpture 
and  architecture  in  general  than  by  a universal  appre- 
ciation and  skill  in  using  color,  especially  in  the  minor 
decorative  forms  of  art. 

Whilst  eulogizing  as  they  deserve  Japanese  art  or 
character,  I do  not  mean  to  assert  for  either 

. . , Supremacy 

any  absolute  superiority  in  the  whole  over  relative,  not 

J \ *'  positive. 

European,  but  simply  to  show  that  pagan- 
ism is  as  far  from  being  unmixed  error  as  Christianity 
is  unmixed  truth ; and  that  any  form  of  civilization, 
whether  of  either  origin,  is  not  so  perfect  as  to  give  it 
the  right  to  dictate  to  its  neighbor  or  assert  for  itself 
an  unqualified  supremacy.  Humanity  is  a complex 
riddle.  One  thing  certain  is  man’s  uncertain  knowl- 
edge and  conflicting  ideas.  Each  race  per-  Th^  ^ 
haps,  as  every  individual,  has  a special  thing 
problem  to  master.  None  alone  may  solve 
the  great  enigma  of  life,  but  all  may  contribute  to 
make  it  more  enjoyable  or  harder  to  bear,  according 
as  they  use  the  faculties  of  their  souls,  thrown  so 
waif-like  on  to  the  inhospitable  shores  of  Time. 
Truth  for  its  own  sake,  and  used  solely  for  human  good, 
is  the  principle  of  action  which  should  underlie  all 
ambitions.  Any  scope  less  universal  and  thorough,  or 
motives  less  pure  and  sincere,  vitiate  results  in  the 
degree  that  they  strike  their  roots  downward  into 
selfish  aims,  false  pride,  and  the  rancors  of  intoler- 
ance, lay  or  religious.  We  call  ourselves  Christians 
more  I fancy  by  the  gracelessness  of  our  self-conceit 
than  by  the  quality  of  our  virtues.  The  sooner  there- 
fore we  admit  that  the  heathen  have  something  to 
teach  as  well  as  to  learn  from  us,  the  faster  will  be 
our  own  intellectual  growth,  and  the  broader  and 
keener  our  pleasurable  emotions. 


SECTION  II. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ART  OF  JAPAN.  — ITS  DIVINITIES, 
MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 

The  religious  motive  is  the  alpha  and  omega  of 
inspiration  of  all  art  of  all  races  as  regards 

The  relig-  . . _ 0 

ious  motive  its  influence  and  power.  It  antedates  and 

the  chief  in-  . ... 

spiration  of  outlasts  all  others.  To  it  the  soul  instin ct- 

art. 

ively  turns  as  by  an  irrepressible  impulse, 
to  find  its  deepest  solace  in  present  life  and  to  ex- 
press its  passionate  longings  for  another.  No  matter 
whether  it  assumes  the  forms  which  we  loosely  clas- 
sify under  the  generic  divisions  of  paganism  and  Chris- 
tianity, or  the  specific  shapes  engendered  of  their 
numerous  sects ; the  vital,  human  emotion  at  the  root 
of  all  is  one  and  the  same : viz.,  the  desire  to  realize 
to  the  outward  senses  in  appropriate,  material  lan- 
guage, the  abstract  ideas  which  underlie  the  soul’s 
consciousness  of  a creative  force  superior  to  itself,  and 
which  sways  its  destiny  for  good  or  evil  by  occult  or 
visible  means.  There  is  in  principle  no  more  idolatry 
in  one  form  of  its  expression  than  another.  Idolatry 
consists  in  the  ignorant  or  superstitious  use  to  which 
the  art-forms  born  of  this  desire  are  put.  Paganism, 
as  exhibited  under  the  rites  of  the  primitive  Shintd 
worship,  is  as  free  from  idolatry  as  any  monotheistic 
religion,  as  even  the  strictest  Judaism,  whilst  Bud- 
dhism is  not  7nore  coarsely  materialistic  in  its  sacred 
mythology  as  rendered  by  art  than  Romanism.  In 
dealing  with  the  sacred  art  of  any  people  whatever, 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS , .42VZ)  HEROES . 49 

• va 

despite  the  fetichism  of  the  absolutely  ignorant, 
whether  the  object  of  a blind  devotion  be  a holy  book, 
an  image,  or  any  abstract  dogma  put  in  the  place  of 
the  creative  will  itself,  which  is  past  all  finding  out, 
in  fine,  despite  sheer  idolatry  in  individual  or  race,  we 
should  place  all  art  consecrated  to  religious  uses  on 
an  equal  footing  as  regards  its  fundamental  motive, 
view  the  feeling  which  originates  it  with  respect,  and, 
in  judging  it  exclusively  on  the  side  of  art,  esteem  it 
according  as  it  successfully  incarnates  its  fundamental 
motives  into  pure  artistic  forms. 

Idealism  in  art  is  a complex  phenomenon.  It  does 
not  absolutely  demand  beauty  in  the  mean-  Idealism  a 
mg  of  the  Grecian  mind.  Neither  does  it  JJelfom- 
confine  itself  to  the  spiritual  or  ascetic  stan-  enon- 
dard  of  the  medievalists  any  more  than  it  refuses  to 
lend  itself  to  the  strange  symbolisms  of  Egypt,  India, 
and  Etruria,  and  the  grotesque  diabolisms  of  the  far 
Orient.  We  cannot  compass  its  spirit,  even  in  the 
wide  range  of  the  homely,  the  real,  the  picturesque, 
the  sentimental,  the  natural,  the  heroic  or  the  sub- 
lime, which  constitutes  at  once  the  variety  and  mo- 
notony of  modern  art.  Looking  back  a brief  bit  of 
history,  we  see  the  Hollanders  shaping  their  Nationai 
ideals  after  their  own  homely,  materialistic  ldeals' 
fashions ; Englishmen,  holding  domestic  life  and  solid 
comfort  in  highest  favor,  pursuing  theirs  in  a scarcely 
less  realistic  mode  ; the  Germans,  too,  having  their 
specific  notions ; the  Latin  races  theirs ; Orientals 
other  visions  of  an  ideal ; each  and  all  idiosyncratic 
in  feature,  and  varying  largely,  whilst  we  may  now 
add  to  the  aesthetic  list  the  American  pattern,  a 
business-like,  impetuous,  uncultured  ideal,  vigorous, 
impatient,  and  tinged  with,  charlatanism  in  some 

4 


50  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


measure,  but  promising ; no  one  attempt  being  con- 
clusive and  final.  For  the  perfect  type,  I repeat,  still 
awaits  its  maker.  Indeed,  it  must  continue  to  await 
until  mankind,  agreeing  on  a higher  standard  of  truth 
and  beauty  than  has  yet  been  made,  shall  incarnate 
their  fresher  living  word  into  a new  form  of  BEING, 
which,  having  absorbed  all  of  good  there  has  ever 
been  on  earth,  shall  move  onward  to  greater  and  more 
complete  ends.  Meantime,  from  sheer  gravitations  of 
imperfectness,  the  human  ideal  will  manifest  its  exist- 
ence as  a fluctuating,  fickle,  antagonistic  quantity  in 
civilizations ; often  perversely  claiming  to  be  absolute 
truth  and  beauty  when  it  is  positive  falsehood  and 
ugliness,  but  ever  groping  about  in  such  light  as  it 
can  evoke  from  nature,  if  haply  it  may  find  what  it 
ever  seeks.  For  a brief  moment  the  mind  seizes  on 
some  phantom  form  that  pleases  its  desire,  but  speed- 
ily wearying  of  an  idol  which  before  long  mocks  its 
hopes,  it  starts  anew  in  search  of  another  divinity, 
ever  prompted  by  a divine  discontent  to  win  failure 
on  failure.  Each  trial,  however,  gains  something  for 
humanity  in  proportion  as  it  is  governed  by  the  love 
of  things  not  altogether  transitory  and  perishable. 
But  the  much  coveted  everlasting  truth  never  visits 
earth  except  as  glimpses  of  radiant  light  far  away, 
and  seen  through  fleeting  clouds,  reflecting  and  soft- 
ening its  brightness  to  meet  the  feebleness  of  human 
sight. 

No  race  being  wholly  without  these  glimpses,  the 
No  race  highest  office  of  its  art  is  to  catch  them  as 
Sv^intu-  they  come,  and  place  them  palpably  before 
ltions.  Qur  senses;  Thus  many  comparative  ideals 
are  formed  which  satisfy  for  a little  while  the  un- 
limited aspirations  of  the  soul  for  sensuous  images  of 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


51 


its  multifarious  thoughts,  hopes,  pleasures,  or  fears. 
Hence,  also,  the  ideal  of  one  man  or  people  differs 
widely  from  another.  That  which  may  be  repulsive, 
unintelligible,  or  even  idolatry  to  one  person,  is  edi- 
fying and  delightsome  to  his  neighbor.  Ideas  of  as- 
sociation, or  suggestion,  determine  in  large  measure 
the  viciousness  or  virtue  of  art.  Consequently,  as  I 
have  before  hinted,  in  judging  any  art  we  should 
not  hastily  condemn  it  merely  because  it  differs  from 
our  own  familiar  standards,  but  search  out  how  far 
it  embodies  its  originating  motives,  how  it  affects  the 
indigenous  mind,  and  lastly,  what  element  it  incor- 
porates instructive  and  enjoyable  to  the  common 
mind.  If  we  approach  art  at  all,  let  it  be  with  both 
this  largeness  of  heart  and  understanding.  Art,  ab- 
stractly interpreted,  is  of  necessity  no  more  a plastic 
or  pictorial  apotheosis  of  beauty  than  of  ugliness,  of 
truth  than  of  error,  and  in  average  practice,  Art  an 
we  find  it  as  ready  to  serve  the  devil  as  apotheosis  of 

J ugliness  as 

God ; to  perpetrate  folly  and  falsehood,  as  ^eea^3 
to  help  the  right  and  make  the  best  appear 
the  most  delectable.  Strictly  as  art,  no  standards  of 
abstract  morality  or  thought  are  to  be  brought  to 
its  test.  We  have  only  to  consider  its  technical 
power  and  beauty  of  presenting  the  facts,  and  spirit 
of  its  specific  motive,  good  or  bad,  in  its  uttermost 
idealization.  We  may  devoutly  wish  that  art  exclu- 
sively served  goodness,  but  it  does  not  any  more  than 
do  speech  and  printing.  The  theories  of  its  transcen- 
dental nobility  are  pleasant  reading  , but  its  practice 
is  quite  often  the  reverse,  just  as  with  professors  of 
religion.  We  have  too  abundant  evidence  that  art 
is  an  assiduous  propagator  of  mischievous  taste,  as 
well  as  its  cunning,  in  befooling  the  mind  and  de- 


52  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 

bauching  the  heart.  Art,  beauty,  the  ideal,  as  pop- 
ularly comprehended,  are  all  uncertain  factors  in 
civilization,  depending  for  their  evil  or  good  on  the 
good  and  evil  in  man  himself,  and  the  direction  of 
The  general  ^is  intellectual  culture.  Indeed,  art  in 
desire  of  art.  genera]?  as  so  far  evinced,  is  a very  subtle 

phase  of  human  growth,  largely  governed  by  a ca- 
pricious code  of  taste  and  budget  of  motives,  and 
with  singular  fidelity  improvising  the  extremes  of 
character  of  the  individual  or  age,  with  slight  respect 
for  more  serious  considerations  than  to  do  its  best 
technically  for  its  own  sake,  get  the  largest  price  for 
the  least  aesthetic  value,  or  else  to  most  please  its 
immediate  patron  and  the  ruling  fashion.  There 
have  been  artists,  perhaps  epochs,  of  a nobler  ap- 
preciation of  its  fundamental  qualities  and  capacity ; 
but  they  have  had  no  permanent,  wide-spread,  pro- 
found influence  on  the  general  character  and  scope  of 
its  diversified  developments.  Such  is  the  inconstancy 
of  feeling,  and  the  constancy  of  ignorance  of  the 
average  human  nature,  that  the  best  of  our  period 
is  most  often  soon  forgotten  or  despised,  in  view  of 
the  meretricious  charms,  or  half-fledged  novelties  of 
its  successor. 

Mind  takes  two  forms  of  consciousness  in  appre- 
Mind  takes  hending  art;  one  primary,  recognizing  its 
*7 con-1118  material  semblance  to  its  objects,  the  other 
Bciousness.  capacity  of  an  inward  suggestiveness,  or 
manifestation  of  the  fundamental  spirit,  or  ruling 
thought  of  its  motives.  In  this  latter  form,  crea- 
tive force  is  preferred  to  the  mere  technics  of  art. 
A sound  critic  or  artist  is  he  who  best  combines  the 
two  into  consummate  judgment  or  execution,  keeping 
in  view  that  the  aim  of  all  art  is,  primarily,  Truth, 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES.  53 

and  secondarily,  Beauty,  so  far  as  any  line  can  be 
drawn  between  them. 

There  are  only  two  ways  of  producing  art.  Either 
we  copy  or  invent.  The  sort  of  truths  neces- 

. t , ,,  Two  ways  of 

sitated  by  copying  what  is  outwardly  seen,  producing 
is  palpable  and  demonstrable  to  our  mate- 
rial senses,  and  the  success  of  the  artist  depends  on 
his  strict  adherence  to  his  copy  or  model,  and  in  in- 
voking those  vital  qualities  which  most  animate  and 
control  them  he  bestows  on  his  effigies  their  most 
characteristic  phenomena.  But  the  truths  which  de- 
termine invention,  i.  e .,  those  qualities  or  phenom- 
ena seen  by  the  mind , although  no  less  substantial  as 
regards  art,  are  more  evasive  as  regards  the  senses, 
and  difficult  to  master.  Their  test  is,  that  which  is 
thus  invented,  even  if  unlike  any  known  product  of 
the  natural  world,  shall  be  as  conscientiously  true  to 
its  own  apparent  organism,  and  as  readily  account 
for  and  explain  the  laws  of  its  being  and  their  se- 
quential phenomena,  as  if  its  entire  organization  was 
the  actual  growth  of  nature  itself.  All  art  which 
does  not  come  within  one  or  other  of  these  living  cat- 
egories, is  mere  paint  or  plastic  gabble. 

What  fragrance  is  to  the  flower,  rhythm  to  poetry, 
melody  to  music,  a smile  to  the  countenance, 

.pi  . i . The  relation 

grace  to  form,  elegance  to  manners,  beauty  of  beauty  to 
is  to  art ; not  art  itself,  but  the  imponder- 
able, undefinable  something  which  superadded  to  the 
elemental  fact  or  idea,  bestows  on  them  their  su- 
preme refinement  and  delight.  Alone  it  appeals  di- 
rectly to  sense  or  spirit,  and  serves  both  as  a temp- 
tation and  a reward,  to  attract  towards  the  search  of 
the  absolute  truth,  whence  it  emanates  and  which  it 
adorns. 


54  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


As  the  controlling  force  of  art,  truth  assumes  at 
will  either  of  the  two  guises  it  momenta- 

Truth  of  ^ 

idea,  and  rily  needs,  Idea  or  Fact.  The  former  is  the 
more  important,  as  it  is  the  soul-germ  which 
is  destined  to  animate  the  organic  fact  which  art 
counterfeits.  This  counterfeiting  may  be  done  with 
much  technical  accuracy,  and  yet  be  comparatively 
valueless,  because  the  artist  fails  to  put  an  idea  or 
living  purpose  and  vital  spirit,  whether  of  realism  or 
of  sentiment,  into  his  work.  Further,  Idea  and  Fact 
may  be  harmoniously  united,  and  yet  no  positive 
aesthetic  quality  as  a whole  given.  The  result  would 
no  less  be  tangible  art,  but  art  without  its  most 
charming  attribute,  Beauty.  I do  not  affirm  there 
can  be  art  without  some  trait  or  mark  of  beauty,  for 
there  is  no  created  or  imaginable  thing  in  its  normal 
or  healthy  condition,  utterly  destitute  of  the  divine 
gift  in  some  sort,  however  masked  by  general  ugli- 
ness or  viciousness.  It  never  wholly  abandons  man 
or  nature.  We  sometimes  say  such  a person  is  so 
ugly  as  to  be  fascinating,  which  is  also  true  of  some 
things.  But  there  must  be  a reason  for  this  subtle 
influence,  which  is  a sign  of  some  latent  aesthetic 
possibility,  or  veiled  quality  of  soul,  not  altogether 
devil-gone.  I do  maintain,  as  before  intimated,  that 
art  being,  like  nature,  many-sided,  is  as  legitimate 
an  exponent  of  whatever  is  ugly  and  false,  as  of  the 
reverse,  despite  classical  experience.  Whether  she 
should  often  put  it  in  practice,  is  quite  another  con- 
sideration. Modern  thought,  even  if  no  deeper,  has 
a vastly  wider  scope  than  ancient.  When  an  artist 
The  ideals  of  constructs  .a  devil,  he  must  put  into  his 
ugimess.  i(jeal  effigy  the  totality  of  evil  his  imag- 
ination can  evoke  and  hands  fashion.  In  the  Siva 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES.  55 

worship  of  India,  Kali,  the  goddess  of  destruction, 
is  as  much  a work  of  art  as  the  Athena 
of  Phidias,  but  how  differently  conceived!  goddess  of 

. . ^ . destruction. 

This  idealization  of  an  evil  force  is  thus  de- 
scribed. “ She  is  a colossal,  naked  effigy,  with  the 
skin  hanging  to  her  bones,  and  her  veins  and  muscles 
frightfully  distended.  Her  hair  is  brushed  back  un- 
der a fillet  of  snakes,  with  a death’s  head  on  her 
forehead,  and  the  distended  hood  of  a cobra  as  a 
canopy  above.  Serpent  tresses  twist  and  squirm 
over  her  cheeks,  ending  amid  strings  of  skulls  worn 
as  necklaces,  and  running  all  over  her  foul  body. 
In  ohe  of  her  hands  she  holds  a brimming  cup  of 
blood,  and  a battle-axe  in  another,  whilst  she  dances 
with  fury  on  the  prostrate  body  of  her  husband.” 
The  mother  of  the  god  of  death,  is  a similar  figure 
of  scarcely  less  concentrated  evil  import,  joined  to  the 
decrepit  figure  of  an  aged  shrew.  These  concep- 
tions are  far  from  lovely,  yet  art  has  labored  as  zeal- 
ously to  create  them,  as  ever  she  did  the  beautiful 
Aphrodite  rising  from  the  ocean-wave,  or  the  spirit- 
ualized form  of  the  Madonna,  queen  of  heaven. 

In  view  of  the  successive  failures4  of  the  mediae val- 
ists,  I advise  the  modern  artist  not  to  try  to  The  chris_ 
fashion  the  Christian  “ God  ” ; but  if  he  will,  tian  God’ 
he  must  incarnate  divine  attributes  into  a personality 
which  best  befits  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  love. 
How  can  art  personify  Omnipresence  and  Omnis- 
cience ? The  mere  presence  of  the  human  type, 
however  elevated,  suggests  the  limitations  of  time, 
space,  thought,  and  force,  if  not  goodness.  Whenever 
art  soars  into  supernal  spheres,  although  its  motive 
may  lift  it  far  above  all  human  standard,  still  its 
capacity  of  material  representation  is  confined  to  its 


56  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 

own  mundane  basis  of  matter  and  knowledge.  Hence 
the  divinities  of  all  races  are  so  many  meas- 

The  divini-  . J 

ties  of  aii  ures  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers  of 

races  are  the  A 

measures  of  those  who  depict  them  and  express  the  lim- 
and  aesthetic  itations  of  their  minds  as  well  as  hands.  In 

limitations.  . 

their  best  estate  they  are  humanly  created 
effigies  of  the  highest  types  of  men  and  women  which 
, their  makers  can  conceive  as  embodying  their  supreme 
notions  of  truth,  beauty,  durability  and  strength,  and 
which  they  hold  in  profoundest  esteem  or  dread.  As 
humanity  advances  its  ideal  of  divine  goodness  and 
perfection,  so  its  standard  of  extremest  evil  or  devil- 
dom recedes  from  its  primitive  hideous  apprehension 
of  the  same,  and  the  monstrous  forms  which  express 
its  hopes  or  fears  become  less  repulsive  and  disgust- 
ing, until  at  last  they  terminate  in  the  gentleman 
demon  of  our  time,  with  hoofs  and  horns,  very  pleas- 
antly disguised  by  the  immaculate  cut  of  his  tailor 
The  Chris-  and  ^ie  consummate  suavity  of  his  manners, 
tian  devil,  borrowed  from  the  life  of  the  modern  fash- 
ionable world.  The  Greeks  were  too  aesthetically 
sensitive  ever  to  let  their  art  invent  a devil.  Devout 
pantheists  are  perhaps  the  most  rational  as  well  as 
poetical  of  worshippers.  Seeing  a divine  idea  and 
image  in  every  phenomenon,  they  are  inclined  to  give 
the  benefit  of  their  doubts  and  their  ignorance  of  the 
machinery  by  which  nature  works,  to  a beneficent 
rather  than  a harmful  design,  or  at  most  to  limit  the 
powers  of  evil  almost  to  the  par  of  man’s  own  forces, 
each  individual  constructing  his  devil  as  well  as  his 
god  according  to  his  own  idiosyncracies  of  mind  and 
matter.  Even  in  the  grossest  idolatries  there  is  a flick- 
ering light  for  the  darkened  soul  to  guide  it  toward 
something  better.  More  progress  could  have  been 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


57 


made  by  mankind  as  a whole,  had  the  Christian  sects, 
instead  of  putting  the  knife  at  each  other’s  throats  and 
those  of  paganism,  sought  out  what  was  really  sound 
in  aim  or  principle  in  their  neighbor’s  creeds,  and  thus 
made  religion  a universal,  conservative,  yet  progres- 
sive force  in  civilization,  instead  of  a jealous,  destruc- 
tive, doctrinal  fiend.  The  Jewish  idea  of  a Jewish 
Jehovah,  out  of  which  has  sprung  the  com-  Jehovah- 
mon  Christian  notion  of  a supreme  divine  personality, 
has  little  beside  his  abstract  unity  of  being  and  in- 
finite power  to  recommend  him  to  an  enlightened 
religious  sentiment.  Too  many,  by  far,  of  his  acts 
and  attributes  partake  of  human  weakness  and  pas- 
sion, and  these  have  left  their  taint  on  the  image  of 
his  successor  as  popularly  conceived,  although  in  the 
aggregate  there  is  a loftier  idea  of  justice,  benevo- 
lence, and  might,  and  possibly  fatherhood.  When 
opinions  clash,  those  which  embody  the  least  truth 
will  of  their  own  accord  go  to  the  wall  if  not  perse- 
cuted. There  is  more  modesty  in  error  than  would 
seem.  We  are  too  apt  first  to  make  it  rampant  be- 
fore trying  polite  persuasion,  or  leaving  it  to  its  own 
ways  of  conversion.  The  Hawaiians  destroyed  all 
their  idols  and  publicly  renounced  their  own  faith 
before  a single  missionary  came  nigh  them,  and  this 
because  of  a few  years’  peaceful  intercourse  with  a 
score  of  unproselyting  traders.  Let  us  be  sure  that 
we  have  something  superior  to  new  fetiches  to  ex- 
change for  old  ones,  before  cauterizing  any  issue  of 
belief,  however  fetid  it  may  be  to  our  nostrils.  Chris- 
tianity, as  it  has  been  organized,  is  as  much  on  trial 
as  regards  its  beneficial  influence  on  humanity,  as 
paganism  in  any  form.  All  religions  will  have  to  live 
or  die  by  their  own  merits  as  men  grow  sufficiently 


58  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


enlightened  to  leave  them  in  peace  to  their  own  vital 
resources. 

Scientists  are  not  wholly  without  a fetichism  and 

bigotry  of  their  own  breeding.  Denouncing 

The  fetich-  ..  . . . . _ ' ® & 

ism  of  all  religious  faith  and  symbolism  as  unten- 

science.  . ° J _ 

able  m the  light  ot  human  reason  and  scien- 
tific fact,  they  yet  claim  for  elusive  matter  a position 
in  the  psychological  development  of  our  species  equal 
in  importance  to  what  the  religionists  do  for  their 
intuitions  or  revelations.  Even  could  they  actually 
seize  and  bottle  up  the  original,  conscious,  evolving 
atom  of  creation  and  crown  it  “ Lord  of  All,”  should 
we  be  any  nearer  a solution  of  the  soul’s  birth  and 
destiny  than  we  find  ourselves  in  the  visions  of  the 
ecstatic  saint  or  the  babblings  of  the  vaguest  “me- 
dium” ? The  logical  thinker  puts  all  experiment  and 
faith  on  an  equal  basis  of  toleration,  be  its  guise  art, 
science,  or  religion.  Every  creed,  rite,  philosophy,  or 
art,  is  to  him  a way  of  confessing  and  searching  for 
the  Infinite,  each  having  its  appropriate  use,  phase, 
and  term  of  being,  and  all  are  means  to  one  end. 
Why,  then,  quarrel  and  provoke  hostility  instead  of 
seeking  to  get  at  in  each  its  legitimate  kernel  of  right 
and  truth  ? Even  the  numerous  posers  in  science  and 
religion,  living  solely  in  the  outward  fact  or  thought, 
are  but  awaiting  their  turn  to  receive  the  spiritual 
idea  which  will  free  them  from  their  slavery  to  ab- 
stract Form  or  absolute  Substance.  Possibly  Fact 
and  Idea,  whether  as  art  or  religion  may  yet  become 
the  unit  of  Truth.  It  is  a favorable  symptom  of  our 
occult  prob-  century,  that  there  is  increase  of  mental  ac- 
lems  of  life.  tivity  and*  toleration  as  regards  all  the  occult 
problems  of  life.  We  are  drawing  nearer  a better  era, 
I trust.  For  my  own  part,  I have  no  sincerer  desire 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS , AND  HEROES. 


59 


than  to  promote  such  appreciation,  both  of  Christian 
and  pagan  art,  as  shall  hasten  the  coming  of  the  long- 
promised  but  much  deferred, — but  let  us  keep  in 
mind,  — solely  by  our  own  acts,  “ peace  and  good  will 
to  all  men.” 

The  highest  use  to  which  the  art  of  the  Orient  has 
ever  put  the  human  figure  is  very  happily  ^ highest 
exemplified  in  the  statue  of  Da’iboudhs  at  use  oriental 

1 .art  makes  of 

Kama  Koura,  in  Japan,  more  than  six  cen-  the  human 

■L  . figure. 

turies  old ; a bronze  effigy  of  Buddha  sixty 
feet  in  height,  sitting  with  his  knees  doubled  beneath 
him  on  the  customary  lotus  flower,  forming  a colossal 
statuesque  whole  of  severe  grandeur,  and  even  maj- 
esty, combined  with  extreme  simplicity  of  appearance 
and  treatment.  The  great  Hindoo  reformer  is  enjoy- 
ing his  nirvana  or  the  ecstatic  disregard  of  outward 
things  which  he  held  out  to  his  disciples  as  their  final 
compensation  for  various  probatory  reincarnations  on 
the  earth  and  having  extirpated  every  feeling  which 
unites  the  heart  to  the  world  and  its  fleeting  pleasures 
and  illusive  hopes.  Absorbed  in  the  Eternal  Soul, 
and  forming  an  integral  part  of  it,  yet  according  to 
some  believers  conserving  a complete  individuality, 
whilst  others  hold  to  its  entire  loss,  in  either  case 
the  soul  no  longer  suffers  changes  or  modifications  of 
its  everlasting  beatitude.  Christian  art  presents  no 
motives  equally  abstract  and  destructive  to  all  the 
common  forms  of  human  self-consciousness.  In  every 
example  we  find  absolute  individuality,  active  or 
passive,  but  positive  of  some  degree.  But  in  Dai- 
boudhs  there  was  to  portray  a human  face  reflecting 
a sentient  soul  absorbed  in  its  own  impassive  bliss, 
having  attained  to  all  knowledge,  yet  disclosing  none 
of  it,  baffling  all  inquiry  into  the  unknown,  and 


60  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


promising  as  consolation  for  all  personal  ills  a like 
impersonal  happiness,  or  else  an  absolute  annihilation, 
just  according  to  the  interpretation  each  believer  gave 
to  this  spiritual  riddle.  The  artist  has  met  with  no 
common  success  in  dealing  with  so  mystical  an  idea. 
Retaining  the  general  characteristics  of  the  human 
model,  largely  and  majestically  conceived,  he  has  con- 
structed this  gigantic  statue,  which,  while  suggesting 
man,  inspires  less  awe  from  its  massive  severity  of 
form  than  its  inscrutable  calm  and  measureless  dis- 
tance from  mundane  interests  and  cares.  Whether 
as  an  immense  idol  for  the  unlettered,  or  an  eloquent 
symbol  for  the  cultivated,  it  is  wonderfully  impres- 
sive. Long  wave-like  ripples  of  drapery  flow  over  its 
shore-like  limbs  ; a head-dress  of  shells  forms  an  effect- 
ive ornament,  whilst  the  broad  contours  and  masses, 
and  the  unspeakable  repose  and  benediction  which 
illumines  its  every  feature,  each  and  all  harmoniously 
unite  into  a stupendous  image  of  intensified  enigma. 
A people  who  could  thus  embody  the  most  elusive  of 
metaphysical  mysteries  must  have  had  an  exceedingly 
lofty  conception  of  the  capacities  of  art. 

Various  expressions  are  given  to  the  Buddhas,  but 
The  various  all  reflecting  this  supreme  repose  and  joy  in 
Buddhas  nirvana  as  the  finality  of  many  wearisome 
incarnations  in  flesh,  undergone  to  attain  thorough 
purity  of  soul  by  personally  overcoming  every  earthly 
passion  and  weakness.  It  is  at  once  seen  that  the 
oriental  sculptor,  in  obedience  to  his  abstract  motive, 
was  obliged  virtually  to  reverse  the  practice  of  his 
Grecian  brother.  He  tried  to  make  men  god-like  on 
the  physical  and  intellectual  plane  of  the  well-under- 
stood human  constitution.  The  former  proposed  to 
himself  the  more  arduous  task  of  sinking  both  into 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


61 


an  abstract  spiritualization,  negativing  all  merely 
human  faculties  and  ambitions  and  creating  an  ideal 
form  which  should  suggest  a consummate,  perfected 
bliss,  destitute  of  every  earthly  taint  or  reminder. 
The  ascetic,  Christian  doctrine  hinged  its  chief  art- 
motive  on  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  one  man,  or  god- 
man,  for  all,  and  consequently  he  was  ever  to  chrigt  aa  an 
be  represented  as  a suffering  mortal  under-  art  motlve* 
going  a death  of  slow  torture,  not  for  himself,  but  for 
others.  But  Christian  art  always  confined  itself  to 
the  narrower  scope  of  making  the  crucifixion  either 
a conventional  symbol  of  faith  or  a painful  piece  of 
realism.  Its  central  idea  of  a divine  atonement 
could  not  be  positively  represented  by  art,  because  it 
was  an  abstract  formula  of  creed  the  moral  effect  of 
which  was  made  largely  and  mainly  to  depend  on 
skillfully  depicted  human  agony,  whilst  the  reason  for 
so  unparalleled  a self-sacrifice  had  to  be  laboriously 
taught  as  a profound  religious  mystery.  The  office 
of  art  regarding  this  doctrine  was  therefore  a simple 
and  direct  realistic  spectacle,  and  as  such  was  nar- 
rower and  less  aesthetic  than  that  which  art  had  to  do 
to  interpret  even  the  classical  mythology,  and  was 
still  further  removed  from  the  almost  impossible  mys- 
ticism of  the  nirvana.  Here  the  sculptor,  although 
compelled  to  make  use  of  the  human  form  to  symbol- 
ize the  motive  of  personal  sacrifices  and  tribulations 
through  various  incarnations  in  order  to  arrive  at  per- 
fect individual  bliss,  or  final  absorption  into  the  un- 
speakable joy  of  the  source  of  all  good,  must  subordi- 
nate all  those  artistic  human  details  which,  perfectly 
given,  made  the  chief  merit  of  Christian  and  classical 
art,  to  the  broad,  mystical,  central  idea,  purely  spirit- 
ual in  conception  and  imagery.  Consequently,  he  had 


62  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


to  stop  just  short  of  their  respective  successes  and 
make  his  abstract  motive  triumph  over  his  visible 
matter.  Whether  he  did  this  by  force  of.  aesthetic 
logic,  or  sheer  instinct  begotten  of  his  contemplative 
faith,  his  sagacity  has  piloted  him  to  a rare  success, 
and  he  has  developed  a species  of  serene  mystical 
beauty  in  sculpture  on  a sufficient  human  foundation 
of  figure  as  to  command  our  aesthetic  sympathies  and 
admiration,  while  suggesting  to  our  souls  the  su- 
pernal attributes  of  an  immortal  being  to  spring  from 
the  perishable  elements  of  the  present  life. 

There  is  no  direct  school  of  the  nude  in  Japan,  or 
apparent  love  of  it  in  their  art.  In  common 

The  school  1 ■Jr  . 

of  the  nude  life  their  customs  afforded  them  every  lacil- 

in  Japan.  . . . ^ 

ity  tor  its  study,  were  they  inclined,  either 
in  vigorous  action  or  complete  repose.  Indeed,  so  far 
as  it  ever  became  necessary  to  use  the  more  or  less 
naked  figure,  they  did  so  with  entire  accuracy  of 
movement  or  position,  and  as  extraordinary  a realistic 
vigor  of  pencil  or  outline  modeling  as  disregard  of 
the  lesser  anatomical  details,  showing  that  their  ob- 
servation was  masterly  just  so  far  as  they  permitted 
it  to  go,  and  if  they  stopped  at  certain  points  we  con- 
sider essential  to  complete  design,  it  was  in#obedienee 
to  their  own  aesthetic  rules  and  not  their  inability  to 
acquire  or  practice  ours.  Shintoism,  undoubtedly,  as 
primitively  taught,  was  unfavorable  to  sculpture,  and 
. perhaps  painting,  for  it  had  few  or  no  images, 

unfavorable,  and  limited  its  sacred  colors  to  red  and  white. 

Buddhism  titv 

favorable  Buddhism,  on  the  contrary,  like  Romanism, 

to  art.  ’ TJ  . . ’ 

was  a nursery  of  art.  Its  army  ot  saints, 
list  of  myths,  traditions,  symbols  and  love  of  decora- 
tion and  appeal  to  the  sensuous  side  of  human  nature, 
were  quite  on  a par  with  those  of  its  eastern  ’rival. 


* 


..'v- 


I 


V 4*.  '* 


v ‘ C 


/*• 


V ■ 


l '> 


! 


. d 


vr*i . 
> 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


63 


But  deeper  rooted  than  even  their  religions  in  their 
minds,  there  seems  to  be  an  instinct  which  inclines  the 
race  to  indifference  as  regards  the  nude  and  physi- 
cally beautiful,  and  a profound  disposition  for  the 
representations  of  strong  emotions,  active  or  passive ; 
an  ecstacy  of  the  sentiments,  sweet  or  caustic,  melan- 
choly, the  passions,  such  as  fright,  anger,  hatred, 
surprise,  jealousy,  above  all  boisterous  gayety,  ex- 
travagant humors,  and  practical  jokes,  and  rarely  the 
tender,  sentimental,  pathetic,  or  what  we  should  call 
the  strictly  heroic.  Theirs  is  a free  pencil,  seizing  on 
its  topic  without  other  regard  than  to  make  the  ruling 

suggests 


Costumes  of 
botxi  sexes 
and  various 
ranks  of 
people. 


point.  Nakedness  in  the  laboring  classes 
no  immodesty  any  more  than  the  limbs  of 
animals.  Oriental  costumes  of  the  richer 
classes  are  more  chaste  in  style  than  similar 
fashions  in  Europe.  Indeed,  in  all  the  sen- 
sual seductions  of  dress  and  calculated  exposures  of 
person,  the  European  lady  is  far  more  an  adept  than 
her  Japanese  sister.  From  time  immemorial  the 
fashions  have  remained  unchanged.  There  were  rig- 
idly prescribed  costumes  for  virgins,  matrons,  and 
courtesans.  The  garments  of  the  women  differed  riot 
very  much  from  those  of  the  men.  Both  were  made 
of  narrow  pieces  of  stuff,  sewed  at  the  edges,  and  fall- 
ing straight  from  the  shoulders  without  any  attempt 
to  closely  adjust  them  to  the  figure.  During  the  cold 
season  several  were  worn,  one  over  the  other.  Hence 
there  could  be  no  elegant  flow  of  drapery  and  sen- 
suous display  of  charms.  When  in  full  dress  the 
great  ladies  of  Japan,  unlike  those  of  Europe,  are 
over  much  rather  than  under-clad.  They  bury  their 
beautiful  contours  in  heavy,  angular,  sharply  adher- 
ing and  long  trailing,  rich  stuffs,  forming  cumbrous 


64  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


masses  of  decorously  elegant  but  awkward  clothing, 
necessitating  a clumsy  gait  and  restrained  move- 
ments. Imperial  etiquette  required  the  gentlemen 
who  came  to  court  to  trail  beneath  their  feet  long 
robes,  or  trousers,  which  made  them  appear  as  if  ap- 
proaching the  Mikado’s  presence  on  their  knees. 

Both  sexes  of  rank  being  so  over-costumed,  it  is 
easy  to  perceive  why  the  artists,  in  rendering  the  life 
of  their  country,  are  so  skillful  in  representing  its 
gorgeous,  heavy  habiliments,  and  the  general  action 
the  wearers,  without  any  taste  for  the  libertinage  of 
dress  so  common  in  Europe.  At  the  same  time  their 
native  standard  of  modesty,  free  of  any  corrupt  desire, 
admits  in  their  pictorial  literature  a liberal  exhibition 
of  family  life  and  scenes  at  the  toilette  which  we  re- 
pudiate in  ours.  During  the  hot  season  when  the 

mat  or  paper  screens  of  the  houses  are  put 

Japanese  A A 

ideas  of  aside,  a passer  often  sees  respectable  women 

modesty.  . 1 . . 

at  their  avocations  or  ablutions  naked  to  the 
waist,  whilst  the  men  of  the  household,  lolling  on  the 
floors,  are  bare  to  their  loin-cloth,  just  as  was  the 
universal  fashion  in  Polynesia  a score  or  two  of  years 
since.  A Japanese  gentleman,  so  says  Mr.  Mitford, 
author  of  the  delightful  44  Tales  of  Old  Japan,”  on  be- 
ing told  that  Europeans  considered  it  indecent  for 
men  and  women  to  wash  together,  observed,  44  but 
these  Westerns  have  such  prurient  minds.”  He 
might  have  added,  also,  that  after  they  were  washed, 
men  and  women  were  allowed  in  our  balls  to  mingle 
freely  together,  scarcely  more  clad  as  regards  the 
latter  sex,  than  when  at  their  toilettes,  and  certainly 
with  greater  libidinous  provocation.  A Japanese  does 
not  associate  sensuality  with  nudity  as  we  do.  In  the 
earlier  stage  of  European  intercourse  this  compliment, 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


65 


I am  told,  has  been  paid  by  a high  Japanese  func- 
tionary to  the  wife  of  a foreign  official  at  a festival : 
“ How  handsome  you  are;  I should  like  to  see  you 
naked  ; ” as  if  speaking  of  a statue. 

The  hidden  or  obtruded,  but  studied  sensualisms 
of  our  schools  of  art,  perhaps  I should  con- 

r r The  dignity 

fine  this  remark  to  the  French,  as  a whole,  of  clothing, 

etc. 

have  no  counterpart  in  the  Japanese.  Ob- 
scenity and  libidinousness  proper  having  no  fictitious 
disguises  are  relegated  to  their  own  vile  haunts,  in- 
stead of  being  paraded  in  conspicuous  places.  Nev- 
ertheless, there  is  a freedom  of  dramatic  represen- 
tation arising  from  the  positive  realistic  standard  of 
common  life,  which  would  not  be  permitted  anywhere 
in  Europe.  Deities,  heroes,  and  ladies  are,  however, 
always  overwhelmed  with  clothing,  not  from  ideas  of 
propriety,  but  to  give  them  dignity.  The  design, 
coloring  and  arrangement  of  drapery,  therefore,  be- 
comes a very  important  study,  and  doubtless  to  the 
detriment  in  general  of  the  figure  proper.  We  find 
in  the  best  wooden  or  bronze  statues,  however,  uncom- 
mon ability  in  posing  and  modeling,  a pro-  Character 
found  respect  for  idealization  of  the  particu-  shownhi85 
lar  motive  after  its  kind,  wonderful  technical  sculPture 
skill,  and  a truthful  appreciation  of  nature,  both  as 
to  action  and  sentiment,  mingled  with  a strong  dispo- 
sition for  the  laughable,  grotesque,  bizarre,  and  even 
for  contortion  and  exaggerated  muscular  efforts,  but 
always  uniting  opposites,  as  for  instance  the  laugh- 
able and  terrible,  in  the  most  natural  and  artistic 
manner,  and  with  a perfect  simplicity  of  free  and  ap- 
parently easy  execution.  The  chief  effort  is  to  make 
the  motive  tell  its  tale  in  the  most  direct,  emphatic 
manner,  with  the  smallest  display  of  technical  labor 
5 


66  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


and  means.  The  key-note  to  most  of  their  composi- 
Key-notc  to  tions  is  found  in  an  occult  imagination  more 


Japanese 

composi- 

tions. 


prone  to  jest  than  fear,  largely  tempered  too 
by  unbelief,  or  perhaps  such  a thorough  be- 
lief as  to  make  the  unnatural  and  frightful  seem  like 
the  familiar  things  of  the  household,  and  beings  that 
we  should  look  at  as  uncanny  and  unclean  appear  as 
very  good  fellows  with  better  hearts  than  shapes. 
At  all  events,  their  art  has  given  birth  to  a prolific 
imagery,  either  of  horrible  or  ludicrous  aspects,  seldom 
rising  above  the  burlesque  to  the  comely  in  looks.  I 
fancy  its  singular  personifications  of  natural  phe- 
nomena must  have  grown  out  of  the  slow  corruptions 
of  the  original  Shintoism,  as  they  seem  to  be,  however 
individualistic  in  character  and  form,  representations 
of  ideas  and  facts  of  nature  rather  than  of  absolute 
divinities  or  even  demons.  Let  us  look  at  some  of 
them,  especially  the  best  favored  and  most  liked  in 
the  people’s  households.  For  in  Japan  now,  as  in 
Europe,  skepticism  in  all  religious  matters 
is  the  rule  among  the  higher  and  erudite 
classes,  who  incline  to  view  all  religion,  in  general, 
either  as  a sentiment  created  by  man  merely  to  min- 
ister to  false  hopes,  or  as  a means  to  placate  and  keep 
the  lower  classes  in  serviceable  subjection  to  the  state 
and  their  superiors. 

The  favorite  of  the  seven  chief  household  deities 
is  named  Ben-zai-ten-njo,  and  she  is  both 
beautiful  and  virtuous  ; not  like  our  Venus, 
simply  a lovely,  physical  type  of  female 
charms,  but  an  accomplished,  decorously  clad 
matron,  somewhat  pensive  and  sentimental, 
and  usually  represented  as  sitting  or  standing  by  the 
sea-shore  playing  an  accompaniment  to  the  music  of 


Household 

deities. 


Ben-zai-ten- 
njo,  the  Jap- 
anese Ma- 
donna, and 
Quamon, 
queen  of 
Heaven 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS , ^iVZ)  HEROES. 


67 


the  waves  on  a quaint  instrument  of  her  own  in- 
vention. Quamon,  queen  of  heaven,  similarly  appar- 
eled and  of  great  dignity  of  deportment,  is  too  much 
absorbed  in  her  own  beatitude  to  be  much  alive  to 
the  cares  of  mortality.  Indeed,  both  these  celestial 
ladies  in  their  highest  functions  appear  to  be  types 
of  certain  conditions  of  mind  produced  by  their  states 
of  nirvana  rather  than  active  agents  in  promoting 
human  welfare.  They  serve  to  indicate  the  “ rewards 
of  merit  ” of  a contemplative,  religious  mind,  such  as 
oriental  mysticism  engenders. 

Ordinarily  a sect  takes  its  creeds  and  rites  as  they 
are  made  for  it  by  the  priestly  authority,  and  confines 
its  belief  or  discussions  within  the  ecclesiastical  bound- 
aries fixed  for  and  not  by  its  members.  Independent 
thought  almost  invariably  leads  to  direct  persecution 
and  its  extinction  in  those  countries  where  Romanism 
is  supreme.  But  in  Japan,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
seems  to  have  been  room  from  the  first  for  the  growth 
of  different  religious  ideas  and  forms  without  coming 
to  loggerheads.  Indeed,  before  Romanism  intruded 
itself,  the  various  sects  got  on  together  as  one  “ happy 
family  ” in  this  “ land  of  Great  Peace.”  The  admis- 
sion to  the  people  of  the  right  of  creating  at  their  own 
sovereign  will  fresh  types  of  divinities  as  the  older 
lost  significance,  shows  great  ecclesiastical  shrewdness 
and  liberality  in  the  dominating  sects  unexampled 
elsewhere,  except  perhaps  in  philosophical  China,  and 
a steadfast  desire  in  all  to  seek  out  and  adore  under 
forms  the  most  significant  to  their  minds  the  unknown 
God  of  all  men.  Those  tangible  effigies  into  which 
the  popular  mind  incarnated  the  deities  elected  by  its 
own  free  suffrage  most  interest  me,  for  they  represent 
its  notions  of  well-being  and  hopes  as  apart  from  the 


68  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


dogmas  and  laws  of  church  and  state.  The  popu- 
Th  Pe  ,pie'  lace  v°lurdarily  placed  themselves  in  charge 
deities  as  of  a family  of  ex-officio  divinities,  who  de1 
revealed  of  voted  themselves  to  the  people’s  immediate 
welfare  without  any  threats  or  promises  as 
regards  the  future  life,  or  the  costly  and  dubious  inter- 
vention of  a priestly  caste.  Especially  the  attention 
given  to  things  terrestrial,  and  particularly  the  press- 
ing needs  of  the  hour,  must  have  made  them  im- 
mensely popular,  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  gen- 
eral contentment  and  happiness  of  the  poorest  classes, 
whose  benefactors  they  chiefly  were.  For  their  prac- 
tical teachings  and  the  faith  reposed  in  their  good 
works,  even  if  emanating  wholly  from  the  imagina- 
tion, were  very  comforting  and  quite  foreign  to  the 
spirit  of  Christian  asceticism  which  seeks  to  console 
humanity  for  present  suffering  by  the  promise  of  re- 
ward in  an  unknown  life  to  come,  and  indeed  to  make 
its  degree  of  joy  depend  on  the  amount  of  sorrow  or 
deprivation  voluntarily  undergone  in  the  flesh.  If 
the  Japanese  sentiment  be  too  exclusively  based  on 
the  materiality  of  life,  at  least  it  shows  a wholesome 
disposition  to  try  to  make  the  best  of  the  present  and 
to  be  cheery  and  trustful  under  all  circumstances. 

What  more  wholesome  fruit  can  any  faith  grow  out 
of  the  soil  of  every-day  practical  life?  “ Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread,”  epitomizes  its  idea.  The  super- 
stition it  stimulated  was  certainly  not  more  harmful 
than  its  kin  of  other  religions,  whilst  it  had  the  par- 
ticular merit  of  being  conducive  to  good  will  all 
round,  and  calling  for  no  tithes,  proselytism,  persecu- 
tion, or  a potent  priesthood.  Born  of  the  people’s 
religious  instincts,  each  family  could  set  up  its  own 
altar  and  cultivate  its  own  rites  without  external  in- 


•*  I.  ' 

§r< 


m 


m: 


V.'' 


' 


sjafey.-, 

“ ■ 


- 

' 

DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


69 


terference.  There  were  always  open  to  it  besides,  the 
established  temples  and  their  wider  ranges  of  beliefs 
and  ceremonies.  But  judging  from  the  evidence  of 
art,  the  untutored  devotion  of  individual  hearts  was 
more  abundantly  bestowed  on  the  seven  household 
guardians  of  the  inhabitants  at  large.  Believing 
firmly  in  them,  it  was  facile  for  minds  mystically  in- 
clined to  lapse  into  notions  of  witchcraft,  and  even 
sorcery.  They  fancied  all  animate  and  inanimate 
things,  as  well  as  men,  were  liable  to  be  obsessed  by 
spirits  which  were  capable  also  of  assuming  unnatural 
shapes  to  accomplish  their  spells.  But  these  spirits 
were  not  always  mischievous.  Indeed,  they  most 
commonly  boded  good  to  those  who  wished 

i . . Spirits,  good 

them  no  harm.  1 his  idea  alone  was  equiv-  and  bad,  m 

x art. 

alent  to  a well- organized  society  for  the 
protection  of  the  lower  creation.  It  was  further  for- 
tified by  the  impression  that  there  exists  a spiritual 
relationship  between  men  and  all  other  organized 
forms  of  life,  not  to  mention  manufactured  articles 
used  by  spirits  as  temporary  abodes  by  permission  of 
higher  powers,*  to  tempt,  reward,  or  punish  individuals 
as  each  case  demanded.  Thus  all  nature,  art,  and 
humanity,  were  united  in  one  great  moral  tie,  benefi- 
cent to  the  good,  retributory  to  the  evil.  Indeed 
these  Gentiles  possessed  a disciplinary  law  unto  them- 
selves as  efficacious  on  its  own  lower  ethical  standard 
as  any  “ Thirty-nine  Articles,”  or  Vatican  Infallibili- 
ties, to  ourselves.  The  same  minds  that  believed 
weapons  might  be  infested  by  evil  spirits,  also  be- 
lieved that  the  chief  duty  of  a sword  was  to  protect 
the  good,  punish  the  wicked,  and  to  establish  tran- 
quillity,— a lofty  principle  which,  once  adopted  by 
all  governments,  would  speedily  end  wars. 


70  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Let  us  see  how  tender  a heathen  conscience  some- 
Yoshiaki,  times  becomes.  Mitford  tells,  us  that  a cer- 
8worfd-mous  Kusano  Yoshiaki,  who  lived  opposite 

maker.  him  at  Osaka,  was  a swordsman,  and  most 
intelligent  and  amiable  gentleman.  His  idea  was, 
that  having  been  bred  up  to  a calling  which  trades  in 
life  and  death,  he  was  bound,  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  to 
atone  for  this  by  seeking  to  alleviate  the  suffering 
which  is  in  the  world ; and  he  carried  out  this  prin- 
ciple to  the  extent  of  impoverishing  himself.  No 
neighbor  ever  appealed  to  him  in  vain  for  help  in 
tending  the  sick  or  in  burying  the  dead.  No  beg- 
gar or  leper  was  ever  turned  from  his  door  without 
receiving  some  mark  of  his  bounty.  Nor  was  his 
scrupulous  honesty  less  remarkable  than  his  charity. 
Whilst  other  smiths  were  in  the  habit  of  receiving 
large  sums  by  counterfeiting  the  marks  of  famous 
makers  of  antiquity,  he  never  turned  out  a weapon 
which  bore  any  other  mark  than  his  own.  Without 
knowing  it,  Yoshiaki  was  a sound  Christian.  There 
are  also  many  Christians  who  are  very  bad  pagans 
and  never  once  suspect  it. 

The  chief  business  of  the  domestic  divinities  is  to 
Business  of  procure  for  men, — shall  we  add  unregen- 
^dderes*  crate — the  gifts  they  most  prize,  such  as 
ties.  length  of  days,  food,  riches,  talents,  fame, 

love,  and  contentment ; though  possessing  the  others 
the  last  would  seem  superfluous ; but  the  household 
gods,  evidently  from  much  experience  of  humanity, 
knew  better.  However  much  the  first  six  smack  of 
earthly  ambitions,  the  Japanese  do  yearn  for  them 
with  a sincerity  and  openness  calculated  to  mollify  the 
strictest  minded  of  their  family  deities,  who,  it  would 
appear,  are  never  tormented  with  our  wliip-the-devil- 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


71 


round-the-stump  modes  of  supplication  for  the  same 
good  things  of  life.  A Japanese  sees  no  impropriety 
in  asking  his  divinity  to  give  him  a lucky  number  in  a 
lottery,  or  to  help  him  in  his  business  or  amours,  with- 
out any  of  the  specious  bribery  or  persuasion  which 
characterizes  European  prayers  of  a similar  strain  to 
saints  and  madonnas.  Too  naive  a child  of  nature 
for  any  subterfuge,  he  goes  directly  to  his  aim  with 
greatest  plainness  of  speech  ; but  is  not  very  greedy 
as  regards  his  spirit  benefactors.  An  amount  of  good 
fortune  sufficient  to  satisfy  one  Anglo-Saxon’s  wishes 
would  suffice  a whole  village  of  Orientals. 

My  pet  deity  is  the  amphibious  Y£bis,  provider  of 
daily  food,  a jovial  marine  demon,  com-  Y^biSj  the 
monly  seen  with  a gigantic  craw-fish  as  his 
head-gear,  sea- weed  for  waist  drapery,  and  etc- 
spindle  legs  of  agile  tenuity,  ending  in  crispy  claws. 
As  he  slips  along  on  the  back  of  a fiend-like  dolphin, 
performing  a nautical  fandango  whilst  holding  out  his 
gifts,  there  is  a droll  mixture  of  benevolence  and 
jocoseness  in  his  lumpy  countenance,  and  his  bright 
eyes  sparkle  with  vulgar  fun  and  robust  life.  Before 
me  an  antique  bronze  Yebis  is  caracoling  on  the  back 
of  a monster  fish,  the  ocean  scud  flying  over  both  of 
them,  with  the  rollicking  waves  keeping  time  to  their 
movements,  and  all  done  with  such  flexibility  and 
fineness  of  modeling  and  vitality  of  spirit  as  to  make 
it  not  only  a masterpiece  of  art  in  every  respect,  but 
a most  fitting  type  of  the  good  fisherman’s  genial 
caterer  and  protector. 

The  Japanese  are  very  shrewd  in  the  ethical  dis- 
tinctions of  their  deities.  Hotel  is  the  pat-  HoteY>  the 
ron  god  of  contentment,  not  in  riches,  which  StmenHn 
they  know  cannot  be,  but  in  poverty  ; so  poverfcy‘ 


72 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


they  leave  the  wealthy  and  famous  to  their  own  moral 
and  material  resources,  and  reserve  the  pure  senti- 
ment for  those  who  have  nothing  else  to  rely  on  for 
their  daily  happiness.  A dreamy,  yawning,  obese 
vagabond  is  Hotel,  of  the  Diogenes  pattern,  minus  his 
sham  philosophy  and  shameless  egoism,  but  equally 
liking  to  bask  in  sunshine  ; just  the  tramp  to  invite 
the  attentions  of  a village  constable  in  New  England 
as  having  no  ostensible  means  of  livelihood.  He  is 
a prodigious  favorite  with  country-folk,  particularly 
children,  to  whom,  as  he  lazes  away  his  time  in  some 
picturesque  spot,  he  tells  pleasant  tales,  brings  little 
gifts,  allows  them  to  play  him  tricks  and  scramble 
over  his  fat  body  as  he  takes  his  noon-tide  naps,  or 
edifies  them  with  stories  of  the  magnificence  of  the 
heavens,  the  stars,  and  whatever  in  nature  or  life  will 
most  amuse  or  excite  their  youthful  imaginations. 

Da’ikokou’s  person,  the  god  of  riches,  is  squat  and 
burly.  He  is  as  amply  costumed  as  a daimio 

DaTfkokou,  , iiic  . . 

god  of  of  the  old  pattern,  half  sunk  m immense 

riches . A 

boots,  and  covered  by  a huge  sack  contain- 
ing his  treasures.  Generally  he  is  seen  sitting  on 
bales  of  merchandise  tied  with  strings  of  pearls, 
always  carrying  a miner’s  hammer,  and  with  a char- 
acteristic touch  of  humor,  has  for  attribute  the  special 
enemy  of  property,  the  rat.  In  the  make-up  of  nearly 
all  the  gods  there  is  an  element  of  satiric  humor  which 
puzzles  one  to  understand  precisely  how  seriously  their 
functions  are  regarded.  The  wit  is  sure  to  be  intelli- 
gible if  the  moral  be  puzzling. 

Longevity,  as  embodied  in  the  person  of  the  vener- 
able and  much  venerated  Shiou-RO,  appar- 
the  god  of  ently  is  considered  too  desirable  a gift  ever 
longevity.  ^ ^ mac[e  j-jie  subject  of  a religious  pun  or 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS , AND  HEROES. 


73 


joke.  He  is  taken  altogether  very  seriously,  as  he 
deserves  to  be  if  his  favors  are  to  be  won.  His  be- 
nign, handsome  countenance,  with  a snow-white  beard 
falling  below  his  waist,  is  topped  by  a cranium  that 
rises  enormously  above  his  eyebrows,  giving  immense 
scope  to  his  moral  and  intellectual  organs,  and  withal 
so  well  managed  as  to  seem  quite  natural  and  comely. 
This  abnormal  expanse  of  brain  is  caused  by  his  con- 
tinually reflecting  how  he  can  best  promote  human 
happiness.  We  find  him  frequently  in  pictures,  in 
bronze,  terra-cotta,  and  other  substances,  always  de- 
lineated with  scrupulous  respect,  and  looking  like  a 
very  lovable  old  patriarch  of  antediluvian  length  of 
years.  Indeed,  he  is  fabled  to  have  remained  in  the 
womb  of  his  mother  sixty  years  or  more  whilst  matur- 
ing for  his  human  destiny.  The  most  artistic  effigy 
I have  seen  of  him  is  made  out  of  a solid  bit  of  ivory, 
slightly  tinted  in  the  draperies  and  exquisitely  carved. 
His  sympathetic  figure  is  sumptuously  robed,  and  his 
face  beams  with  benevolence  and  self-satisfaction  in 
his  honors  and  years,  as  he  leans  on  his  inseparable 
crook,  attended  by  a snow-white,  aged  stork,  likewise 
the  image  and  symbol  of  the  serenest  old  age,  and 
which  nestles  affectionately  at  his  side.  The  tortoise 
is  another  of  his  attributes. 

Tossi-Toku,  god  of  talents,  is  no  youth  either.  He 
dresses  like  a learned  doctor,  is  of  most 

ill  Tossi-TokQ, 

grave  aspect,  with  an  extravagantly  elevated  patron  of 
skull,  enlarged  by  perpetual  meditation. 

Like  Shiou-R6,  he  is  also  a perpetual  wanderer,  dis- 
tributing knowledge  as  he  travels,  likewise  carrying 
a crook  on  which  he  suspends  his  palm-leaf  fans  and 
manuscripts.  As  a companion,  he  takes  along  a pet 
fawn. 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


75 


prototype  of  the  amorous  Aryan  Venus,  inciting  men 
and  women  to  physical  love,  and  breeding  scandal  and 
mischief  in  Olympian  society.  On  the  contrary,  she 
is  ingenious  and  accomplished  ; for  it  was  she  who  in- 
vented the  lute,  and  she  ever  delights  in  poetical  rev- 
eries on  moonlit  shores  with  the  silver-tipped  waves 
caressing  her  tiny  feet.  Mature  are  her  charms  and 
wisdom  ; a ripe,  full-bloomed,  sapient  dame,  respect- 
able and  sympathetic  in  every  sense ; at  least  such  is 
one  of  her  many  roles.  As  Benten,  we  see  her  equally 
good  and  handsome,  but  performing  a more  motherly 
and  housewifely  part  to  the  edification  of  all  good 
matrons  and  housekeepers ; a model  parent,  and  per- 
fect example  of  domestic  and  civil  virtues.  Hear  this, 
all  ye  teachers  of  women’s  rights,  and  set  up  Benten 
for  your  typical  female  and  patron  ! Where  will  you 
find  a more  complete  one,  necessarily  beloved  by  all 
true  men  and  adored  of  fathers  and  sons.  Surely  not 
in  the  Roman  virgin-madonna,  chastely- lovely  though 
she  be  as  she  sits  in  her  spiritual  panoply  with  her 
divine  child  in  mystic  repose  on  her  knees.  She  is  far 
too  impassive  and  inefficient  to  stand  as  a practical  type 
of  her  sex  in  these  days  of  scientific  pessimism  and 
positive  philosophy.  No ! Benten  is  our  ideal  woman. 
Listen  to  her  full  credentials.  Handsome,  virtuous, 
learned,  accomplished,  benevolent,  witty,  poetical,  yet 
thoroughly  practiced  in  motherly  and  wifely  duties ; 
and  what  more  is  needful  to  an  Anglo-American 
madonna,  unless  it  be  wealth  and  social  position,  of 
which  in  Benten’s  case  I find  no  definite  record.  The 
Roman  madonna,  indeed,  comes  of  the  royal  line  of 
David,  and  has  the  indispensable  inoculation  of  blue 
blood.  But  with  Benten  I fear  there  is  no  first  family 
lineage  to  fall  back  upon.  So  she  will  have  to  accept 


76  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


such  consideration  as  her  own  beauty  and  virtue 
may  win,  while  for  riches  she  has  only  to  show  a 
splendid  set  of  “ Cornelia’s  jewels,”  of  which,  maybe, 
some  of  my  female  readers  will  declare  she  has  an 
excess. 

Benten  is  prolific,  I confess.  She  has  fifteen  sons, 
Benten-s  ah  whom,  save  one,  are  well  educated  and 

eons.  trained  to  follow  either  a useful  occupation 

or  a learned  profession.  The  first  is  an  author,  another 
is  an  office-holder ; still  another  a metal-founder,  a 
banker,  a farmer,  a merchant,  a tailor,  a silk-grower, 
a brewer,  a clergyman,  a doctor,  an  expressman,  a 
breeder  of  animals,  and  lastly,  a baker;  only  the 
fifteenth  son  has  no  profession.  Possibly  he  is  the 
t;  spoilt  child,”  or  the  “ black  sheep,”  which,  like 
mistakes,  will  creep  into  the  best  of  families  to  their 
utter  vexation.  But,  shade  of  mother  Eve,  what 
a family  this  of  Benten  ! Only  one  fifteenth  part 
dubious,  or  a domestic  failure ! Perhaps  he  was 
simply  a curb-stone  or  club  idler ; a sort  of  foil  to 
the  industrious  and  thrifty  ones,  just  to  prove  there 
was  nothing  really  supernatural  in  the  paternal  blood ; 
his  brothers’  industry  and  thrift  paying  for  his  fine 
feathers  and  fine  manners,  while  he,  disdaining  toil 
and  toilers  alike,  and  all  utilities  whatsoever,  feels 
compelled  by  his  own  ideas  of  nobility  to  draw  the 
lines  fixedly  somewhere  between  all  plebeian  virtues 
whatsoever  and  his  own  sovereign  patent  of  an  aristo- 
cratic uselessness. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  fourteen  serviceable  citizens 
given  the  state,  and  an  ornamental  one  thrown  in  as 
loose  change,  are  as  good  credentials  of  sound  woman- 
hood and  as  strong  arguments  for  its  rights  as  we  can 
conceive.  The  Japanese  are  right  in  honoring  Ben- 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES.  77 

ten  as  the  best  type  of  her  sex.  They  do  more.  She 
is  worshipped  on  a far  higher  plane  as  the  Benten,  as 
fecund  principle  of  virtue  and  benefaction,  motherTnd 
personifying  the  nourishing  ocean  that  pro-  Q^en^f 
tects,  feeds,  and  enriches,  and  also  glorifies  Heaven- 
the  great  empire  of  the  far  Eastern  Seas.  In  this 
shape  the  Japanese  encircle  her  beautiful  brow  with 
a divine  aureola,  crown  her  head  with  an  imperial 
diadem,  and  clothe  her  in  magnificent  robes.  Un- 
der any  of  her  forms,  however,  there  is  none  of  the 
mystical,  illogical,  and  undesirable  virginity  attrib- 
uted to  tho  Roman  ideal  woman.  Benten  is  always 
the  mother , the  fecund  generator,  provider,  educator  ; 
a substantial  benefactor  and  producer  of  mankind, 
and  completest  embodiment  of  the  virtues  and  deeds 
most  useful  and  pleasurable  to  men.  As  attributes 
of  the  extreme  range  of  her  functions  and  accom- 
plishments, she  holds  a latch-key  in  one  hand  and  a 
matchless  pearl  in  the  other.  In  her  loftiest  my- 
thological aspects  she  becomes  the  dual  incarnation 
of  the  supreme  powers  of  nature  and  humanity  ; the 
veritable  god-mother  of  Japan,  on  whose  head  burn 
three  celestial  flames  ; the  queen  of  all  the  delights 
and  refinements  of  human  existence,  having  eight 
hands  all  busy  in  good  works.  Does  not  this  ener- 
getic, cultivated,  large-hearted  Benten,  make  a bet- 
ter figure  in  mythology  than  the  impossible,  unin- 
structed Jewish  maid,  Mary,  however  amiable  and 
pure  ? With  all  respect  for  the  limited  Roman  con- 
ception, to  my  mind  it  is  inferior  as  a practical  exam- 
ple in  life,  or  as  an  invented  queen  of  heaven  to  the 
larger  Japanese  thought.  Under  both  aspects,  Ben- 
ten is  a charming  and  poetical  offspring  of  the  relig- 
ious sentiment  of  these  islanders,  as  original  as  she  is 


78  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


simple  and  natural,  and  yet  endowed  with  sufficient 
mystery  of  symbolism  to  take  a deep  spiritual  hold 
of  the  understanding.  Her  profoundest  attributes 
are  so  tempered  by  earthly  wisdom  and  experience, 
whilst  her  affections  and  emotions  are  so  swayed  by 
kindred  causes,  that  her  all-comprehending  being  be- 
comes intelligible  and  edifying  to  all  classes,  and  theo- 
logically offensive  to  none. 

Notwithstanding  their  highest  celestial  attributes, 
Household  our  Japanese  friends  will  crack  broad  jokes 
thdriowii-  even  with  the  supreme  divinities,  caricature 
est  aspects,  them,  or  perhaps  we  should  say  travesty 
their  functions.  Oftentimes  they  represent  them  as 
strolling  actors  meeting  with  ridiculous  adventures, 
or  performing  unseemly  feats.  Tossi-Toku  is  worth 
a dozen  of  Saint  Nicholas  for  amusing  children  on 
these  occasions.  Benten  does  not  disdain  to  sing  to 
chance  audiences  like  any  roving  troubador.  When 
benevolently  inclined  she  sews  for  the  poor  as  actively 
as  a Dorcas  society.  All  of  them  get  up  picnics  to- 
gether, play  games,  make  fun,  and  do  whatever  else 
a decorous-minded  Japanese  permits  himself  to  do 
within  his  social  limits,  either  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment or  to  please  his  neighbors.  If  there  be  less  of 
the  grand  style  in  the  deportment  of  this  circle  of 
jovial  divinities  than  is  current  among  the  denizens 
of  Olympus,  there  is  a higher  standard  of  morals, 
and  greater  real  usefulness,  than  is  found  among  most 
ascetic  saints  of  any  calendar,  if  spiced  with  less  per- 
sonal sacrifice.  These  household  gods  of  Japan  may 
well  put  to  blush  the  classical  deities  of  Greece  as 
salutary  examples  of  daily  life.  How  can  a poor 
man  murmur  at  his  lot  in  face  of  the  merry,  tutelary 
Yebis,  no  richer  than  himself,  yet  ever  ready  to  do  a 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


79 


kind  act  and  help  him  keep  up  a cheery  heart.  Does 
not  the  philosophical  Hotel  live  like  the  meanest  peas- 
ant, his  sole  property  a big  wallet,  a fan,  and  a knife, 
with  but  scant  raiment ! Each  one  has  some  perti- 
nent counsel  or  gift  for  the  toilers  of  the  earth.  None 
incite  to  envy,  malice,  sensuality,  or  theft,  but  all 
strive  to  lighten  burdens  and  strew  flowers  in  their 
paths.  Doubtless  very  pagan  and  material,  all  this  ; 
but  where  do  we  find  in  other  religions  impersonifica- 
tions  of  less  reprehensible  qualities,  or  more  directly 
useful  and  encouraging  ? In  a certain  measure  they 
are  a homely,  artistic  expression  of  the  spirit  of  the 
“ Sermon  on  the  Mount ; ” the  bread  of  life  put  into 
the  vernacular  symbolism  of  a people  yet  in  the 
infancy  of  their  intellectual  development.  A race 
which  invented  so  guileless  a mythology  and  con- 
ceived a religion  so  abstractly  spiritual  as  the  Shintd, 
must  have  had  an  innate  consciousness  of  the  Su- 
preme, such  as  no  art  could  effectively  portray,  and 
which  as  effectively  barred  any  attempt  to  image  the 
divine  essence  itself,  as  any  law  of  Moses  or  Moham- 
med. At  the  same  time  their  familiar  associations 
with  its  attributes,  as  delegated  to  inferior  agencies 
not  wholly  dissimilar  to  man  himself,  were  a lively 
incentive  to  art. 

The  Chinese  have  possessed  from  time  immemo- 
rial a numerous  family  of  divinities  of  simi- 

. ni  i*i  Chinese 

lar  import,  some  ot  whom  appear  to  beiden-  family 

. , , . divinities. 

tical  with  the  Japanese,  and  are  treated  m 
their  art  in  very  much  the  same  style.  Among  those 
most  commonly  represented  in  pottery,  particularly, 
we  find  Ckeou-lao , our  friend  of  longevity,  who  fills  the 
role  of  supreme  arbiter  of  earthly  affairs,  and  regu- 
lates the  seasons,  carrying  in  his  hand  a leaf  of  the 


80  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


fabulous  Fan-too  tree,  which  blossoms  once  in  three 
thousand  years  and  takes  as  long  a time  to  ripen  its 
fruit. 


Konan-in  is  a gracious  goddess  of  Buddhist  deriva- 
tion, veiled,  and  represents  the  generative  and  crea- 
tive power ; evidently  the  prototype  of  Ben-zai-ten- 
njo,  in  her  highest  symbolical  aspects. 

Pou-tai  stands  for  Hotel , as  the  personification  of 
Chinese  materialistic  ideas  of  contentment.  He  is 


grossly  stout  and  vulgar,  of  a thoroughly  sensualis- 
tic  figure  and  features,  with  a swollen  belly,  twink- 
ling, leering  eyes,  and  a plethoric  sack  of  the  good 
things  most  coveted  by  his  devotees  to  make  them 
contented  with  their  lives. 


This  list  of  coincidences  might  be  indefinitely  ex- 
tended. Probably  in  the  outset  the  Japanese  got 
many  of  their  notions  of  their  household  deities,  as 
they  did  their  art  and  literature,  from  their  older 
civilized  neighbors,  and  adapted  them  to  their  own 
specific  wants  and  temperaments,  sometimes  with  a 
decided  advantage  to  their  general  features  and 


functions. 

Besides  their  pantheon  of  general,  irreproachable 
The  root  deities,  the  Japanese  have  invented  scores 
Japanese1  °f  niinor  ones,  demons  after  their  kind, 
art*  charged  with  special  functions,  and  often 

very  impish  and  of  uncertain  tempers.  Hoffksai,  the 
founder  of  the  latest  school  of  design,  said  to  have 
been  originated  in  the  last  century,  — a school,  as  we 
shall  see,  of  wonderful  realistic  force  and  humoristic 
character,  — taught  it  was  easier  to  invent  new  forms 
than  to  copy  exactly  what  one  sees  in  nature  ; an 
axiom  which  seems  to  lie  at  the  bottom  of  all  the 
most  original  art  of  Japan. 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES.  81 

Another  cause  of  its  varied  demonology  and  the 
passion  for  the  fantastic  and  terrible  can  be  Demonology 
traced  to  the  peculiar  features  of  a land-  of  Japan- 
scape  which  abounds,  not  only  in  the  picturesquely 
beautiful  and  grand,  but  in  weird  shapes  and  prolific 
suggestions  of  uncanny  beings,  grotesque  and  fright- 
ful, basking  in  their  lairs  of  sea-girt,  basaltic  rocks, 
black  and  gloomy,  pierced  with  caverns  and  tortuous 
channels  into  which  the  ocean  surges  with  ominous 
shriek  and  roar,  and  glistens  in  the  hot  sunlight,  or 
pales  and  trembles  before  the  moon’s  cold  rays ; or 
else  as  peering  from  out  of  dense  forest  shades  and 
entangled  masses  of  vegetation  at  the  imaginative 
traveller,  and  as  actually  taking  possession  of  natu- 
ral objects,  and  by  their  foul  spells  endowing  them 
with  fiendish  life.  Thus  it  has  befen  brought  about 
that  Japan  early  became  a land  of  romance  and  mys- 
tery to  its  own  inhabitants,  — all  the  stronger  be- 
cause of  their  isolation  from  other  peoples  ; which 
romance  and  mystery  begot  a prolific  legendary  lit- 
erature that  fed  their  native,  psychological  bias  by 
what  itself  grew  upon.  This  state  of  mind  was  in 
no  ways  weakened  by  the  prevailing  religious  ideas. 
Indeed,  they  confirmed  and  strengthened  it,  and 
caused  it  at  times  to  degenerate  into  exorcisms, 
magic,  and  extravagant  superstitions.  Their  most 
skillful  jugglery,  in  all  departments  of  which  they 
excel,  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  love  of  the  pantheistic 
marvelous,  particularly  on  its  ludicrous  or  horrible 
sides,  and  takes  its  quaintest  forms  in  forcible  con- 
trasts and  subtle  antagonisms  of  emotions.  Spiritism, 
or  the  evocation  of  the  dead  by  professional  mediums 
or  diviners,  is  also  common. 

The  fiercest  of  the  submarine  monsters,  lying  in 
6 


82  .4  GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  still  depths  of  fathomless  waters,  is  TaU-makiy 
Tats-maki,  the  dragon  of  the  typhoon,  the  most  terri- 
dragonof  ble  of  demons.  Its  frightful  jaws  snap  to- 
typhoon.  gether  with  a crash  like  thunder  whenever 
his  horrid  head,  fury-lit  eyes,  and  snake-like  anten- 
nae, floating  amid  surging  masses  of  coarsest  hair, 
rise  to  the  surface  during  the  loudest  howling  of  the 
tornado,  while  its  enormous  green  and  ruby  body  and 
long  tail,  crested  with  a gold-like  flame,  with  claws 
unclutched  and  threatening,  mingles  in  the  convulsive 
heave  of  the  wind-lashed  ocean,  and  revels  in  the  up- 
roar of  the  elements : a fearfully  magnificent  image 
of  the  destructive  force  of  the  most  terrible  of  storms, 
alike  to  the  landsman  and  to  the  sailor. 

Japanese  fancy  indulges  in  bizarre  humor,  with  a 
touch  of  caustic  criticism  on  an  occasion  offering.  It 
transforms  the  sacred  utensils  of  Buddhist  temples  — 
vases,  candlesticks,  incense-burners,  and  images  — 
into  diabolical  flying  imps,  holding  high  festival  un- 
der the  direction  of  rollicking  devils.  Again,  in  a 
more  sober  spirit,  we  find  it  depicting  the  separation 
of  the  soul  from  the  body  after  death,  heralded,  as 
the  mediums  declare,  by  a slight  crackling  noise. 
Assuming  its  phantom  life,  it  hovers  awhile  over  its 
own  corpse,  taking  its  general  appearance  and  reflect- 
ing its  principal  traits  while  living.  A touch  of  the 
ludicrous — which  the  Japanese  artist  never  refrains 
from  when  any  opportunity  is  given  — is  often  thrown 
in,  generally  in  the  person  of  an  affrighted 
witness.  Ghosts  are  not  greater  favorites  in 
Japan  than  elsewhere,  even  if  more  believed  in.  Some- 
times a moral  lesson  is  hinted,  as  in  the  shade  of  a 
mother  who  has  committed  suicide,  leaving  an  infant 
destitute.  She  is  made  to  haunt  the  spot  of  her  crime, 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS , 42VZ)  HEROES. 


88 


bowed  down  with  remorse,  until  she  can  find  some  one 
to  assume  the  charge  which  she  wickedly  abandoned. 
Criminals  are  forced  to  hover  in  prolonged  misery 
about  the  scene  of  their  execution,  until  relieved  by 
personal  contrition  and  benevolent  intervention. 

We  must  not  fail  to  discriminate  the  differences 
which  exist  between  all  the  forms  of  the  in-  Differences 
digenous  art  and  the  motives  and  style  of 
those  imported  from  China  and  India.  The  J2£ed°artof 
genuine  Japanese  are  invariably  character-  Japau‘ 
ized  by  vigorous  and  marked  national  traits,  whether 
of  idea  or  execution.  By  turns  it  is  strongly  individ- 
ualistic, idealistic,  or  naturalistic ; intensely  sincere 
and  local,  varied  and  lively  in  fancy  as  in  movement 
and  tint,  borrowing  less  from  its  neighbors  than  it  is 
able  to  give  back  with  large  interest,  but  owing  to  its 
insulated  position  exercising  little  influence  outside  of 
its  own  border,  at  least  until  a few  years  ago,  when  it 
attracted  the  attention  of  European  artists  and  excited 
the  enthusiasm  of  foreign  amateurs. 

The  great  statue  of  Daiboudhs,  and  all  sculpture 
akin  to  it,  borrow  their  motives  and  types  from  India. 
There  still  exist  in  Ceylon  and  Java  similar  works  of 
an  earlier  date.  Whatever  there  is  of  this  style,  it 
owes  its  inspiration  directly  to  Buddhism  and  is  sim- 
ply Chinese  and  Hindoo  ideas  put  into  the  aesthetic 
vernacular  of  Japan,  more  or  less  modified  by  the 
translation,  in  general  on  the  side  of  realistic  strength 
and  masculine  vigor.  Even  in  its  mystic  and  contem- 
plative aspects  there  is  a decided  gain  in  intensity  of 
expression  and  feeling. 

There  is  before  me  a striking  picture  which  I take 
to  be  the  “ Trial  of  a Soul”  in  Hades,  the  The  “Trial 
group  consisting  of  six  figures  admirably  °n  iiades°.ul ' 


84  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


distributed  and  delineated.  The  judge  of  hell,  seated 
at  a draped  table  on  which  is  spread  out  the  book 
of  law,  is  regarding  with  compassion  the  execution  of 
the  sentence  he  has  just  pronounced  on  a wretched 
mortal  in  the  grasp  of  one  fiend,  while  another  is  ad- 
ministering the  prescribed  blows  with  swinging  force. 
His  Good  Genius,  neglected  in  life,  stands  sorrowing 
in  the  background,  while  the  Evil  One,  having  con- 
summated his  work,  gloats  over  the  frenzied  agony 
of  his  victim  in  close  proximity  to  his  prey.  There 
are  no  elements  of  supernal  horror,  such  as  are  de- 
picted in  ordinary  Christian  pictures  of  this  class.  In 
feeling  and  composition  it  recalls  the  Etruscan  man- 
ner of  telling  like  tales  of  retribution  in  death,  whilst 
in  design  it  is  certainly  above  the  average  of  that 
art.  Each  figure  is  appropriately  costumed,  group- 
ing and  action  are  simple  and  serious,  and  the  mean- 
ing plain  and  suggestive.  As  a spectacle,  it  fittingly 
represents  the  usual  rapid  forms  of  oriental  justice, 
except  that  the  solemn  gravity  of  the  chief  actors 
announces  that  more  than  ordinary  interests  are  at 
stake.  A noteworthy  point  is  the  contrast  between 
the  grim  satisfaction  of  the  evil  genius,  who,  with 
uplifted  hands,  beats  time  to  the  avenging  strokes 
of  the  impish  executioner,  as  if  they  were  delicious 
music  to  him,  and  the  pitiful  gaze  of  the  stately 
judge  as  he  leans  almost  protectively  toward  the 
writhing  sufferer  and  clasps  his  hands  in  convulsive 
sympathy. 

There  is  another  painting  which  haunts  my  imagi- 
nation like  an  apocalyptic  vision.  It  is  done 
able  paint-  in  finest  silk,  mounted  on  ivory  rollers,  and  is 
about  five  feet  long  by  two  wide.  The  com- 
position, combining  as  it  does  profoundest  mysticism 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS , 42VZ)  HEROES. 


85 


with  extreme  simplicity  of  treatment  and  extraordi- 
nary grandeur  of  invention,  fills  the  mind  with  a con- 
sciousness of  the  primeval  spheres,  when  the  world 
was  formless  and  void.  One  hears,  as  it  were,  an  ele- 
mental voice  out  of  the  night  of  ages ; deep  calling  to 
deep,  as  the  Divine  Will  bids  light,  and  water,  and 
land  appear.  There  is  an  art  that  baffles  description 
and  defies  analysis,  its  kingdom  being  over  the  soul, 
into  which  it  enters  as  a spiritual  tonic,  electrifying 
our  entire  being  with  fresh  currents  of  immortality. 
Unscientific  and  heathen  although  the  conception  of 
this  composition  may  be,  its  mystic  awe  penetrates 
the  soul,  and  suggests  the  symbolical  presence  of  the 
Supreme. 

I will  briefly  recount  its  features,  even  at  the  risk  of 
making  this  confession  of  its  power  over  me  seem  pure 
hyperbole.  Let  those  who  have  eyes  and  ears  only 
for  sheer  human  uproar,  or  the  whiffs  of  human  vanity, 
deride  and  pass  on.  What  will  they  see  in  the  deep- 
drawn  breaths  of  this  illimitable  ocean,  whose  vast 
storm- waves  sweep  onward  before  the  cosmic  hurri- 
cane in  foaming  hemispheres,  until  lost  in  the  driving 
heaps  of  dark  clouds  that  repeat  their  cosmic  forms 
and  mingle  air  and  water  in  one  vapory  mass  on  the 
distant  horizon  ? But  look  nearer ! In  the  surging 
foreground  there  is  seen  abruptly  arising  out  of  the 
hell  of  waters  a sharp,  volcanic  rock,  edged  with 
green,  and  over  it  the  salt  spray  dashing  its  claw-like 
spurts.  The  sacred  turtle  of  Japanese  mythology, 
trailing  behind  its  fabulous  feathery  appendage  which 
forms  a fan-like  tail,  has  climbed  out  of  the  sea  to  its 
surface,  and  is  looking  upwards,  into  the  sky,  watch- 
ing a spiral  vapor  or  breath  of  so  translucent  a sub- 
stance as  to  let  the  murky  background  of  sullen 


86  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


atmosphere,  relieved  above  by  a broad  belt  of  gray, 
ominous  light,  be  seen  through  its  more  ethereal  mat- 
ter. This  mystical  air-spout  descends  in  a constantly 
diminishing  column  with  a gyratory,  spirit-like  move- 
ment, to  the  mouth  of  the  sacred  turtle,  from  the  beak 
of  Tsouri-Sama,  the  holy  lord,  a gigantic  crane,  em- 
blem of  longevity  and  peace  of  soul.  Its  immense 
milk-white  body  sweeping  downwards  with  majestic 
stroke  of  wing;  its  jet-black  neck  and  head,  topped 
by  a crimson  crest  and  curling  gracefully  toward  the 
turtle  on  which  its  piercing  eyes  are  fixed,  with  its 
equally  black  tail  and  legs  thrown  upwards  in  a mag- 
nificently conceived  movement,  balancing  the  simi- 
larly bold  action  of  the  enormous  wings ; these  all 
make  up  a mysteriously  grand  figure  in  strong  relief 
against  a huge,  blood-red  orb,  whose  lower  edge  is 
buried  in  driving  mists.  A lurid  glare,  like  that  of 
the  sun  half  shrouded  in  fog,  gleams  from  the  upper 
portion  of  the  disk,  while  far  above  and  extending 
into  space  on  either  side  is  seen  the  infinite  empyrean. 
Does  Milton’s  verse,  — 

“Those  who  with  mighty  wings  outspread 
Dove-like  sat  brooding  o’er  the  dark  abyss 
And  made  it  pregnant,  etc.,  ” — 

surpass  this  work  of  the  artist’s  pencil  ? W ere  ever 
the  stupendous  creative  forces  of  the  universe  more 
potently  and  beautifully  symbolized?  The  purity, 
force,  and  subtle  gradation  of  coloring  throughout  are 
quite  on  a par  with  the  breadth  and  vigor  of  the 
drawing  and  originality  of  the  entire  thought. 

Despite  the  pure  theism  and  simple  worship  of 
their  aboriginal  faith, — perhaps  owing  to  them  and 
to  their  cosmopolitan  facility  of  receiving  new  ideas, — 
the  Japanese,  with  the  imported  Buddhism,  accepted 


I 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


87 


many  of  its  popular  notions  of  a material  hell  and 
demonology,  which,  originating  in  Central  Asia,  finally 
leavened  the  current  Christianity  of  Europe  with  their 
doctrinal  horrors  whilst  infusing  themselves  more  or 
less  into  all  creeds  with  a frightful  train  of  predicted 
woes  to  the  unconverted  and  wicked  of  The  worship 
every  race.  Amongst  them  all  hell  became  of  eviL 
an  appalling  material  fact.  Sacred  art  was  stimu- 
lated to  invent  the  most  direful  imagery  to  bring  the 
retributive  dogma  home  to  believers’  hearts  with  an 
irresistible  conviction  of  fear.  This  dread  apotheosis 
of  evil  caused  a more  or  less  direct  worship  of  the  de- 
structive forces  of  nature  and  the  retributive  action  of 
offended  moral  law,  symbolized  in  such  hideous  ways 
as  only  the  affrighted  imaginations  and  perverted 
understandings  of  untutored  peoples  could  conceive. 
The  Hindoos  were  the  most  conspicuous  inventors  of 
avenging  deities,  culminating  in  the  worship  Siva  and 
of  Siva.  Our  Satan  is  a mild  and  pleasant  Satan> 
gentleman  in  comparison  with  this  being.  But  the 
Japanese  mind,  although  scarcely  less  prone  to  occult 
symbolisms  and  mythology,  was  at  bottom  of  a more 
healthy  psychological  temperament.  In  the  breadth 
of  its  hospitality,  if  it  did  not  really  welcome  the 
foreign  effigies  of  a belief  in  the  powers  of  evil,  of 
whatever  origin,  it  put  no  restrictions  on  them  as  be- 
liefs, and  left  them  to  make  their  doctrinal  conquests 
as  they  best  could,  provided  they  respected  the  state. 
It  might  have  given  unlimited  license  of  proselytism 
to  the  subsequent  Roman  missionaries  if  no  politi- 
cal propagandism  had  lain  coiled  within  their  creed. 
Heretofore,  whenever  the  foreign  religious  element 
had  come  into  contact  with  the  native,  the  former  had 
been  largely  shorn  of  its  more  objectional  features  as 


88  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN 


regards  the  Japanese  polity,  and  tempered  anew  by  the 
native  pantheistic  tendencies,  which  had  nothing  in 
them  hostile  to  the  government.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  common  people,  in  the  general  guileless,  simple, 
good-humored,  fond  of  jesting,  and  equally  fond  of  the 
romantic  and  marvelous,  had  invented  for  themselves 
not  a family  of  great,  aristocratic  deities,  lordly  and 
beautiful  like  the  Grecian,  or  sternly  and  grandly 
metaphysical  and  symbolical  like  the  Egyptian,  but 
cosy,  familiar  ones,  bone  of  their  bone,  flesh  of  their 
flesh,  embodying  their  own  ideas  of  what  well-inten- 
tioned, good  mannered,  social,  democratic  gods  should 
be,  especially  those  whose  functions  are  to  protect  and 
befriend  poor  men  ; patrons  with  whom  they  can  chat 
and  joke,  even  snub  and  be  blandly  forgiven,  and  who, 
to  their  unlettered  believers,  served  as  an  outlet  for 
their  intuitive  confidence  in  a supervising  Providence 
which  they  could  define  in  no  better  manner.  Hence, 
too,  their  more  realistic  and  grotesque  than  grand  and 
beautiful  personifications  of  the  natural  phenomena  of 
their  varied  climate,  which  appealed  to  their  minds  as 
outbursts  of  good  or  bad  temper  on  the  part  of  some- 
what eccentric  deities  rather  than  as  orderly  effects  of 
physical  laws.  Forces  which  they  neither  could  under- 
stand nor  control  and  which  were  prodigiously  harmful 
or  terrible,  like  lightning  or  the  typhoon,  took  quaint 
and  grim  shapes  in  their  fancies,  similar  to  the  imp  of 
the  former  and  the  dragon  of  the  latter,  or  other  su- 
pernatural forms  and  hues  that  most  vividly  person- 
ified their  interpretations  of  the  irresistible  power  of 
the  elements,  or  the  mystic  functions  of  purely  imag- 
inary beings. 

The  “ Guardians  of  Heaven  ” are  extremely  cu- 
rious creatures.  They  are  of  Michael  Angelesque 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


89 


size  and  muscle  and  action,  with  ferocious  looks,  — 
gesticulate  wildly,  have  circlets  of  tongue- 
shaped flames  issuing  from  their  heads,  and  “ Guardians 

^ ^ q£  Ue&ven.' * 

bear  a general  resemblance  to  Etruscan  fu- 
ries, or  door-keepers  of  hell.  Japanese  devils  do  not 
seem  to  be  the  incarnate  enemies  of  men,  bent  on  de- 
stroying their  souls,  like  the  orthodox  Christian  de- 
mon. On  the  contrary,  they  have  a marked  prefer- 
ence for  playing  tricks  with  their  bodies,  and  getting 
out  of  them  while  in  the  flesh  all  • sorts  of  impish  en- 
tertainment. I refer  to  the  aboriginal  devils,  not  the 
imported  Buddhist  varieties.  The  former  roast  tfyeir 
victims  by  coarse  jokes  and  pointed  jeers,  which  is 
better  fun  for  them  than  to  broil  sinners  on  real  coals 
of  fire  in  an  eternal  place  of  torment.  Sometimes 
the  living  men,  by  the  aid  of  superior  spirits,  get  the 
better  of  these  devils,  and  turn  the  laugh  on  their 
teazers  and  frighteners.  Psychologically,  it  is  a sin- 
gular recognition  and  treatment  of  evil  in  life,  ac- 
cepting it  thus  half  seriously  and  half  jocosely  ; but 
the  spirit  seems  characteristic  of  the  Japanese  in 
almost  everything  in  their  art.  And  yet  in  matters 
of  etiquette  they  are  unsurpassed  in  gravity,  suavity, 
and  elaborated,  complicated  ceremony. 

I will  cite  a few  examples  of  their  materialized 
imagery  of  the  atmospherical  phenomena,  to  illustrate 
its  character.  W e instinctively  associate  thunder 

with  the  sublimity  of  resistless,  elemental  force,  or, 
the  anger  of  an  omnipotent  creator,  when  the  imagi- 
nation alone  deals  with  it.  The  Japanese  see  in  it 
a fantastic,  hairy,  distorted  imp,  of  knotted  joints 
and  twisted  limbs,  called  Raiden,  leaping  imp 

madly  about,  or  turning  somersaults  in  the  of  thunder- 
centre  of  a dark  cloud,  banging  away  with  heavy 


90  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


sticks  at  a wheel-like  circle  of  thin  drums,  which  he 
swings  around  his  head,  not  altogether  unsuggestive 
of  the  prolonged  rattle  and  reverberation  of  the 
electrical  fluid,  but  so  pitifully  a droll  symbol  of  the 
real  thing  as  to  seem  like  the  work  of  a reckless 
wag,  rather  than  a sincere  artistic  conception ; an 
impression  which  strengthens  when  Rai'den  is  de- 
picted frantically  struggling  on  the  earth,  thrown 
out  of  his  cloud-home  by  the  recoil  of  his  own  light- 
ning. 

Even  that  stupendous  symbol  of  physical  force, 
Tats-maki,  the  dragon  of  the  hurricane,  is  quite  as 
conspicuous  in  subjecting  mankind  to  ludicrous  catas- 
trophes as  in  destroying  them.  The  very  instant  art 
seems  on  the  point  of  reaching  the  beautiful  or  sub- 
lime, most  often  a malicious  common  sense  or  an  un- 
controllable drollery  pounces  upon  it  and  sends  all 
its  finer  idealisms  flying  for  dear  life.  Instead  of 
awe  we  get  a roar  of  laughter  ; in  place  of  beauty  a 
burlesque.  But  the  Japanese  impulse  is  subtle  and 
amusing,  even  when  low  and  irreverent.  It  is  not 
like  Dora’s,  a mockery  of  man  and  nature,  marred 
by  a weird  extravagance  of  design  and  diabolism  that 
either  disguises  or  defies  all  truth,  so  that  there  is 
no  wholesomeness  in  his  art.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Japanese  designer,  in  making  merry  over  his  conceit, 
does  not  disgust  and  repel  by  implied  or  rendered 
meanings  which  burrow  only  in  the  recesses  of  per- 
verted imaginations.  We  may  not  get  an  exalted 
notion  of  his  personages  and  their  functions,  but  we 
are  spared  despising  them,  and  any  cynical  or  dis- 
heartening reveries  as  to  the  upshot  of  humanity  or 
the  malevolence  of  nature. 

Fiiten,  the  wind-god,  is  an  equally  ugly,  but  more 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES.  91 

serious  conception,  half  enveloped  in  an  immense  bag 
swollen  with  imprisoned  tempests,  which  he  Fiilenj  the 
carries  on  his  back,  holding  the  two  ends  in  wm<J-g°d- 
his  hands  ready  to  unloose  their  destructive  forces 
whenever  the  caprice  seizes  him. 

As  patron  of  arms,  the  Mars  of  Japan,  there  is  a 
hybrid  monster,  partly  man  above,  and  ani-  Thejapan- 
mal  beneath,  or  neither,  just  as  the  imagi-  eseMars* 
nation  can  take  hold  of  the  strange  medley  of  func- 
tions. The  face  of  the  bestial  portion  resembles  one 
of  those  hideous  rococo  knockers  common  to  most  pal- 
ace doors  when  the  devil  was  all-rampant  in  social 
life,  while  the  mere  human  part  has  enough  heads, 
arms,  and  weapons  attached  to  its  nondescript  form  to 
furnish  an  entire  army.  As  an  image  of  the  anarchy, 
cruelty,  and  wholesale  slaughter  which  make  up  the 
old  oriental  idea  of  warfare,  it  is  even  more  pertinent 
than  the  patron  saint  of  horsemanship,  who  careers 
through  the  clouds  on  a coal-black  steed  with  fiery 
eyes,  brandishing  two  swords  over  his  head  like  an 
aureola  of  flames,  scowling  the  while  fiercely  to  make 
the  world  aghast  as  his  supernumerary  limbs  are  ac- 
tively engaged  in  what  seems  more  like  acrobatic 
tricks  than  a rider’s  well-trained  skill. 

But  the  quaintest  specimens  of  abnormal  design, 
done  with  an  artistic  keenness  which  makes  their 
queer  attitudes  and  performances  seem  natural,  are 
those  impossible  beings,  so  common  in  their  Grotesque 
sketch-books,  with  legs  or  arms  extending  inventlons- 
five  or  more  times  the  length  of  their  bodies,  and 
yet  who  preserve  the  dignity  and  almost  the  grace  of 
normal  humanity,  while  doing  things  as  unaccounta- 
ble as  their  laughable  proportions.  Sometimes  their 
heads,  connected  with  their  trunks  only  by  a sort  of 


92 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN . 


umbilical  string,  fly  off  in  the  opposite  way  to  which 
their  bodies  are  running,  gyrating  a moment  in  the 
air,  and  finally,  upside  down,  find  themselves  staring 
with  a sardonic  grin  into  the  faces  of  frightened  folks, 
who  lose  their  wits  on  seeing  these  trunkless  inverted 
heads,  with  bodies  blundering  about  in  another  direc- 
tion. Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  of  these  inventions 
is  that  double-bodied  and  headed  individual,  who,  al- 
though so  copiously  provided  with  brains  and  viscera, 
has  but  one  pair  of  arms  and  legs  to  wait  on  them  ; a 
no  less  strange  freak  of  art  than  is  of  nature  the  living 
negro  girl  of  America  with  her  four  arms  and  legs, 
two  heads  and  only  one  body. 

As  a drawing  it  is  extremely  well  done.  The 
countenances  are  not  ignoble,  with  somewhat  of  a 
dandyish  cut  of  hair  and  whiskers.  Each  head,  as 
with  the  negro  girl,  maintains  a will  and  character 
of  its  own  ; but  the  hands  and  feet  are  used  in  com- 
mon, apparently  gesticulating  and  marching  in  unison 
to  one  impulse.  They  or  it,  as  you  please,  without 
a rag  of  clothing,  are  promenading  on  the  sea-shore, 
in  the  society  of  other  extraordinary  creatures,  in- 
cluding some  of  the  long-armed  or  long-legged  gen- 
The  bird-  try,  which  attributes,  however,  never  are 
people.  found  together  on  the  same  individual.  All 
have  ugly  features,  and  crouch  on  the  sands.  One 
projects  his  ungainly  arm  a rod  before  him  to  grasp 
a scroll  which  has  just  been  brought  from  the  “ south- 
east kingdom  ” by  one  of  its  “ feathered  people,” 
who  descends  with  rapid  sweep  of  wing  head  down- 
most.  The  legend  states  that  this  people  “ have 
cheeks  lengthened  out  like  those  of  birds ; their 
beaks  are  red  ; their  eyes  white.  Wings  grow  upon 
them,  and  they  can  fly  a short  distance  ; they  resem- 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


93 


ble  birds,  but  are  not  hatched  from  eggs  ! ” All 
which  features  are  strictly  observed  by  the  artist. 
He  has  constructed  something  which  is  neither  all 
man  nor  all  bird,  but  has  the  qualities  of  each  accu- 
rately blended,  as  are  those  of  man  and  animal  in  the 
centaur.  Feathers  and  wings  run  almost  impercepti- 
bly into  clothing.  On  one  view  the  face  seems  to  be 
entirely  a bird’s  beak  and  skull ; on  another,  it  looks 
like  a human  cranium  with  a low  forehead  and  sharp 
nose. 

In  another  plate  two  of  these  beings  are  represented 
fighting  as  cocks  fight,  their  feathers  torn  and  flying 
about,  whilst  their  faces  are  animated  by  human  in- 
tensity of  passion  and  capacity  of  stratagem.  The 
bloated  demon  of  gambling,  with  cuttle-fish  eyes, 
and  ensnaring,  flexible  feelers,  quivering  over  them, 
delightedly  watches  the  struggle.  Often  in  lieu  of 
a beak  they  display  a slim  nose  several  feet  long, 
which  they  turn  to  practical  use  by  placing  the  end 
on  a comrade’s  shoulder  and  hanging  bundles  to  it, 
partly  supported  in  one  hand  to  ease  the  weight  and 
prevent  oscillation.  These  long-noses  are  great  jug- 
glers. They  write,  paint,  toss  and  catch  rings,  and 
do  all  sorts  of  tricks,  with  this  well -trained  member. 
Indeed,  impossible  acts  and  growth  of  limbs  are  so 
cleverly  managed  as  to  appear  feasible  and  natural. 
We  come  to  look  on  them  as  no  more  outside  of  na- 
ture than  a fresh  turn  to  the  wheel  of  fashion,  bring- 
ing up  the  monstrosity  of  yesterday  as  the  beauty  of 
to-day.  In  this  naturalness  of  the  unnatural  lies  one 
of  the  specific  triumphs  of  this  species  of  Japanese 
work.  We  may  forgive  ourselves  for  believing  in  the 
existence  of  the  mermaid,  because  the  strangest  vaga- 
ries really  look  like  studies  after  life.  Specimens  of 


94  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


monsters  in  whom  each  member  and  function  is  an- 
tagonistic to  its  neighbor,  so  plausibly  constructed  as 
to  make  the  whole  appear  vitally  sound  and  well 
adapted  to  its  own  ends  in  life,  could  be  generated 
only  in  imaginations  steeped  in  a belief  in  their  pos- 
sible existence. 

The  rococo  grotesques  of  Europe  are  wanting  in 
this  principle.  Besides  being  stupidly  ugly  and  im- 
becile in  motive,  they  are  far  less  original  in  thought, 
and  have  no  organic  life,  truth  of  instinct,  or  reason 
of  being.  Not  even  a Raffaelle,  or  Razzi,  could  im- 
part to  their  bizarre  fancies  the  constitutional  verity 
of  existence  which  animates  the  Japanese  designs  ; 
still  less  bestow  on  them  a corresponding  dignity 
and  purpose  of  characterization.  Theirs  are  out  and 
out  artistic  lies,  unworthy  of  their  powers  of  inven- 
tion, and  with  the  latter  painter  frequently  indecent. 
The  common  run  of  artists  dwarfed,  distorted,  or 
befouled  nature  with  no  adequate  result  in  way  of 
decorative  design,  not  even  of  pleasurable  surprises 
or  grim  humor.  For  proof,  examine  the  frescoed 
ceilings  of  the  corridors  of  the  Florence  gallery, 
which  embody  the  best  and  worst  of  this  species  of 
ornamentation.  But  the  Japanese  artists  amuse  by 
the  quaintness  and  freshness  of  their  ideas  ; edify  by 
the  profound  comprehension  of  their  motives  and 
materials  ; and  excite  our  senses  by  forcible  sugges- 
tions of  the  unseen  things  in  the  universe.  Spiritual 
in  the  Christian  sense,  never ; but  always  entertaining. 
Nevertheless,  in  some  of  their  compositions  there  is 
to  be  seen  a physical  grasp  and  grandeur  that  bor- 
Theink-  ders  011  sublimely  terrible.  Witness 
spectre.  tBe  spectre  evoked  by  a magician  out  of  his 
inkstand,  issuing  as  a vapor,  and  slowly  taking  the 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES . 


95 


shape  of  a huge  dragon,  with  claws  that  can  clutch 
mountains,  and  a spine  whose  crackle,  as  it  uncoils, 
reverberates  like  the  roll  of  thunder,  and  makes  the 
whole  firmament  shudder,  whilst  its  noxious  breath 
darkens  the  air,  and  condenses  it  into  a mass  of 
gloom,  in  the  midst  of  which  glisten  two  round  fiery 
eyes,  like  phosphoric  balls.  Does  not  this  spectre 
woefully  signify  the  poisonous  effects  of  a vitiating 
literature  on  any  land  ? 


In  my  estimate  of  the  seven  household  deities  of  Japan  in  the  preceding 
Section,  I have  shown  them  either  as  popularly  viewed,  or  as  a stranger 
may  regard  them  in  their  artistic  aspects.  But  to  some  it  may  be  interest- 
ing to  know  more  as  to  their  origin  and  acceptance  by  the  majority  of  the 
human  race. 

Thanks  to  the  erudite  Professor  Anselmo  Severini  of  the  “ Istituto  Supe- 
rior e ’ ’ of  Florence,  and  a translation  in  Italian  made  by  Signor  Carlo 
Puini  under  his  supervision,  of  Ye-ma-no-te-hon , an  illustrated  work  in  six 
parts,  on  some  of  the  most  famous  pictures  in  the  oldest  temples  of  Japan,  I 
am  able  to  give  a little  more  light  on  the  subject.  At  the  best,  it  is  diffi- 
cult, because  of  the  easy  eclecticism  of  the  Japanese  in  the  choice  of  their 
divinities,  drawing  freely  as  they  do  upon  the  overflowing  calendar  of  the 
Buddhists,  which  is  in  itself  largely  infiltrated  with  Brahminical  ideas  and 
images,  and  even  more  primitive  worships.  Their  own  aboriginal  religion, 
Shintoism,  being  in  practice  a deification  of  ancestry  and  the  adoration  of 
the  hosts  of  spirits  known  as  Kamis,  whether  of  terrestrial  or  celestial  origin, 
it  follows  that  there  is  not  only  a vast  number  of  so-called  deities  or  genii 
of  mixed  nationalities  in  the  Japanese  mythology,  but  considerable  confu- 
sion of  names  and  attributes,  all  which  makes  its  investigation,  coupled 
with  the  difficulties  of  the  several  languages,  no  light  task.  The  book  in 
question,  although  old,  is  not  a special  treatise  on  the  subject-matter  of  the 
sacred  pictures,  but  a series  of  notices  cited  from  older  works,  giving  also, 
in  several  instances,  the  names  and  families  of  the  artists,  of  which  Kaihd 
appears  to  be  the  chief,  but  frequently  saying  that  the  artist  is  unknown. 

The  Japanese  theory  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  ought  to  delight 
modern  evolutionists.  Briefly,  it  reads  thus : There  was  a time  when 
there  was  neither  heaven  nor  earth,  nor  principle  male  and  female.  All  was 
sexless,  and  inclosed  pell-mell  in  an  unformed  mass  the  same  as  a chicken 
in  its  shapeless  germ.  The  finest  atoms,  in  rolling  about  at  hazard,  formed 
the  heavens ; the  grosser,  mutually  adhering,  the  earth.  The  former,  in 
knocking  against  each  other  in  their  movements,  being  quicker,  formed  the 
heavens  first ; whilst  the  larger  and  heavier  moving  slower,  were  longer  in 
producing  the  earth. 

So  far,  it  would  appear,  either  chance  or  an  unknowable  organic  force 


96  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


created  and  guided  matter.  At  all  events,  cosmos  is  launched  into  space 
and  time.  We  now  aretbld,  “ Because  the  terrestrial  matter  balanced  itself 
in  the  ether  like  a fish  sporting  on  the  surface  of  the  water  the-  gods  were 
born  ” — to  look  after  it.  Evidently,  the  necessity  of  an  intelligent  will  to 
take  charge  of  all  this  stupendous  erratic  matter  early  forced  itself  on  the 
primitive  human  mind,  and  thus  was  engendered  the  idea  of  a god,  and 
subsequently  a prolific  mythology.  For  it  would  not  do  to  leave  all  to 
blind  chance  where  man  was  concerned,  nor  could  he  altogether  accept  the 
notion  of  there  being  law  without  a law-maker.  Be  this  as  it  might  be, 
the  naked  Japanese  statement  of  the  appearance  of  a material  before  a 
moral  and  intellectual  creative  force,  agrees  with  the  positive  skepticism  of 
the  present  hour  that  makes  all  faith  and  religion  begin  and  end  with  the 
physical  individual ; his  temporary  want  giving  rise  to  the  idea,  and  the 
idea  shaping  itself  into  the  effigy  of  a divine  being  capable  of  creating  and 
administering  the  universe  and  conferring  his  own  immortality  on  man, 
but  having  no  other  foundation  in  philosophy  or  fact  than  the  ignorant 
fears  or  interested  wishes  of  perishable  humanity.  As  a sort  of  compro- 
mise with  the  perpetually  recurring  question,  “What  first  gave  rise  to 
chance,  law,  matter,  or  whatever  the  mind  recognized  as  the  beginning  of 
life  ? ” and  the  impossibility  of  solving  it,  the  Japanese  imagination  fell  back 
on  a starting  point  within  the  compass  of  human  fancy  by  asserting  that 
three  male  gods,  born  solely  of  “ celestial  reason — not  a bad  supposition 
this,  considering  the  dilemma,  — first  took  charge  of  the  universe.  After 
them  came  other  gods,  male  and  female,  generated  by  the  union  of  the  vital 
principle  or  “ reason  ” of  the  earth  with  the  “celestial  reason’  ’ of  the 
heaven,  — seven  successive  generations  of  these  mixed  beings  being  thus 
produced.  This  is  analogous  to  the  statement  in  Genesis  that  “the  sons  of 
God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair,  and  they  took  them 
wives  of  all  which  they  chose.”  Izanaghi  and  Izanami  were  the  last  of 
these  superhuman  couples,  and  at  their  disappearance,  we  get  onto  solid 
historical  ground  in  the  person  of  the  founder  of  the  empire  of  Japan 
twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  — Zin-mon,  a sort  of  Alfred  the  Great,  or 
Charlemagne,  only  more  successful,  for  his  political  institutions  and  dy- 
nasty still  endure. 

I have  abridged  this  relation  from  the  Abb£  Rousseille’s  translation  in  the 
“ Revue  de  l’Orient”  of  the  genealogy  of  the  sovereign-gods  of  Japan  ; a 
curious  mixture  of  fable,  fact,  speculation,  the  real  and  supernatural  in 
an  insoluble  literary  compound. 

Carlo  Puini’s  translation  puts  us  on  somewhat  less  apocryphal  and 
transcendental  ground  ; indeed,  on  a very  materialistic,  earthy  basis  of  ideas 
in  regard  to  the  fundamental  uses  and  goods  of  life.  We  soon  perceive 
there  is  nothing  celestial  or  spiritual  in  the  origin  and  constitution  of  the 
“ seven  genii  of  felicity,”  commissioned  to  look  after  the  welfare  of  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  men ; for  they  are  simply  the  substantial  effigies  or 
symbols  of  those  desires  which  most  heartily  affirm  the  material  happiness 
of  the  average  Japanese  mind  without  any  reference  to  a future  existence. 
Their  worship,  therefore,  is  quite  distinct  from  the  adoration  of  those  celes- 
tial and  terrestrial  Kamis  or  spirits  who  have  an  absolute  individuality. 


DIVINITIES , MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


97 


The  former  confines  itself  exclusively  to  mundane  well-being,  and  must  on 
that  account  recommend  itself  to  the  philosophers  of  the  purely  rational- 
istic schools,  who,  denying  God  and  all  personality  after  death,  propose  to 
substitute  for  immortal  hopes  and  felicity  the  positive  but  transient  wel- 
fare of  time  in  the  guise  of  whatever  satisfaction  art,  science,  and  culture 
may  yield.  Forgive  the  suggestion,  but  it  really  seems  to  me  that  these 
seven  Oriental  genii  would  form  an  admirable  pantheon  for  philosophers  of 
this  pattern,  and  appease  the  instincts  of  their  followers  for  worshipping 
something  outside  of  analysis  and  dissection,  by  providing  them  with  ar- 
tistic symbols  of  what  they  most  covet  on  earth,  already  recognized  by 
scores  of  millions  of  their  fellow-men.  What  could  be  more  appropriate, 
for  instance,  than  a beautiful  temple  erected  to  Ben-zai-ten-njo  in  Berlin, 
the  inventor  of  music  and  art,  and  teacher  of  the  refinements  and  virtues  of 
daily  life,  with  a disciple  of  Strauss  as  high-priest  V Quite  as  edifying 
would  be  one  to  Bis-ja-mon  and  Tossi-Toku,  administered  by  a Schopen- 
hauer or  a Hartmann.  Any  or  all  of  the  seven  are  in  solidarity  with  the 
current  materialism  of  Europe  and  America.  By  adroitly  using  them  it 
would  agreeably  vary  its  arid  monotony  and  cheerlessness,  do  homage 
to  the  artistic  faculty,  and  repair  in  some  sense  its  one-sidedness  as  regards 
the  whole  being  of  man,  without  abating  one  jot  of  its  logical  or  scientific 
assumption.  By  all  means,  ye  disinterested  speculators  in  the  human 
mind,  build  us  elegant  temples  and  dedicate  them  to  the  substantial  seven 
as  the  artistic  embodiments  of  the  philosophy  of  material  evolution  and  the 
beginning  and  end  of  all  things,  our  souls  included. 

The  Chinese  reduce  the  seven  to  five,  as  follows : longevity,  riches, 

. health,  love  of  virtue,  and  desire  of  death  by  old-age,  which  they  call  go- 
fuku , the  five  happinesses.  Our  Japanese  friends  vary  their  wishes  some, 
adding  two,  and  sometimes  three,  to  the  list,  — glory  or  fame,  talents,  and 
the  daily-bread  supplier  and  comforter,  the  inimitable  Yebis. 

Yebisu,  as  it  is  also  written,  is  aboriginal  Japanese,  fabled  to  have  been 
born  of  the  last  pair  of  gods,  Izanaghiand  Izanami.  In  his  grand  functions 
he  is  the  chief  dispenser  of  worldly  prosperity,  the  privy-councilor,  be- 
stower  of  rich  harvests,  and  patron  of  commerce.  In  this  role  he  is  better 
known  in  literature  as  Firuko.  One  legend  represents  him  as  the  pro- 
genitor or  the  civilizer  of  the  Yebisu,  — the  wild,  hairy,  ugly  savages  who 
first  peopled  Japan,  fathers  of  the  present  despised  Ainos.  Hence  the 
mixed  appellations  and  functions  of  this  deity  and  his  universal  popularity, 
being  recognized  by  all  classes. 

Tai-koku  (Dai-koku),  Bi-suja-mon  (Bisjamon),  and  Ben-zaiten  (Benten), 
are  of  Indian  origin  modified  by  Buddhist  transmutation.  Fotei  (Hotel), 
Ziyon-ran-zu  (Shiou-Ro),  and  Fuku-roku-ziyu  (Tossi-Toku),  are  said  to  be 
of  Chinese  creation.  But  all  are  now  so  thoroughly  naturalized  in  Japan 
that  scholars  find  it  difficult  to  trace  them  clearly  back  to  their  independent 
sources.  They  supply  a common  want  in  one  form  or  other  of  the  popula- 
tions of  India,  China,  and  Japan,  adapted  to  each,  and  varied  according  to 
the  culture  of  the  individual,  their  diverse  functions  at  times  being  inter- 
changeable or  intermixed. 

7 


98  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


The  hammer  of  Dai-koku  is  used  to  strike  his  sack  every  time  he  wills  it 
to  be  filled  with  money,  food,  rice,  or  whatever  else  is  needed. 

Bisjamon  is  one  of  the  four  kings  of  heaven  thafrguard  the  world  at  the 
four  cardinal  points  of  Meru,  the  central  mountain  according  to  Buddhist 
cosmology.  Since  writing  the  description  of  the  two  famous  statues  in 
bronze  in  Section  V.,  I have  been  able,  I think,  to  identify  them  with  two 
of  these  celebrated  Guardians  of  Heaven. 

In  the  Buddhist  mythology  Ben-zai-ten  is  an  extremely  mystical  per- 
sonage. Her  fifteen  sons  are  as  many  beneficent  functions  or  gifts,  the 
beating  away  the  cruel  genii  of  hunger  and  thirst  being  among  them,  and 
to  shower  the  earth  with  gems  and  precious  things.  She  is  also  called  Kou- 
toku-ben-njo,  goddess  of  merits  and  of  the  marvelous  voice;  yet  the  Jap- 
anese stoutly  claim  her  as  their  own  invention.  Possibly  she  is  confused 
with  a Buddhist  goddess  somewhat  similar.  Uga-no-kami  is  the  name  of 
one  very  popular  as  the  protectress  of  food  and  divinity  of  the  five  grains. 
Tradition  ascribes  to  her  the  discovery  and  cultivation  of  rice,  the  staple 
grain  of  the  East.  The  fox  is  sacred  to  her  and  held  in  great  estimation, 
and  also  feared  because  of  its  powers  of  witchcraft. 

Fotel  (Hotel)  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  an  obese,  dirty  mendicant 
Buddhist  friar,  of  great  sanctity,  self-taught,  affable,  jovial,  generous, 
sleeping  on  the  ground  outdoors  in  all  weathers,  and  always  carrying  with 
him  his  sack  of  begged  victuals.  Japanese  fancy  sees  in  him  a lovable 
old  vagabond,  auspicious  of  good  luck  and  cheer. 

Longevity,  or  Ziyn-ran-zin,  by  our  Chinese  account,  was  not  altogether 
a pattern  of  good  morals ; for  he  loved  to  go  into  market-places,  gamble, 
buy  lottery-tickets,  tell  fortunes  and  spend  his  gains  in  drink,  striking  his 
head  on  the  ground,  as  he  cried  aloud,  “I  am  the  holy  man  who  lengthens 
human  life.”  He  told  the  Emperor  of  China,  who  was  curious  to  see  this 
strange  dwarf,  — he  was  only  three  feet  high,  half  of  which  height  was  in 
his  forehead,  — “he  loved  wine  and  when  he  was  drunk  he  could  speak 
well.”  Being  put  to  the  proof  he  prophesied  prosperity  for  China  and  the 
emperor  whenever  the  Yellow  River  ran  clear,  and  then  he  disappeared ; 
that  is,  went  back  to  heaven. 

Kiti-ziyau-ten  is  an  eighth  deity  who  is  not  infrequently  in  company 
with  the  preceding,  and  seems  to  be  a sort  of  compendium  of  all  their 
good.  He  removes  evil  and  pain,  bestows  favors,  gives  exuberant  fortune, 
tranquillity  and  contentment,  if  addressed  in  perfect  faith  with  utmost 
power  of  will  in  certain  formula  of  prayer.  Indeed,  he  has  the  power  to 
give  to  satiety  money,  clothes,  gems,  food,  coral,  amber,  in  fine  everything 
the  asker  covets,  and  must  be  spoken  to  as  the  universal  giver,  dispenser 
of  favors  and  sovereign  beneficence.  Repeated  disappointments  have  prob- 
ably put  his  worshippers  out  of  countenance,  for  his  image  is  not  described, 
or  else  his  functions  have  been  incarnated  into  a more  possible  shape  in  the 
person  of  the  god  of  talents,  the  aged,  wise,  and  respectable  doctor,  Tossi- 
Toku.  I had  wished  to  give  a fac-simile  in  photolithography  of  a Japanese 
wood-cut  in  one  of  their  old  Encyclopedias,  exhibiting  the  seven  deities  of 
felicity  on  a picnic ; but  besides  being  a little  injured,  it  is  too  delicately 
drawn  to  be  fairly  reproduced.  It  represents  the  party  assembled  on  a 


% 


DIVINITIES,  MYTHS,  AND  HEROES. 


99 


paved  terrace  overlooking  distant  mountains,  with  all  the  materials  of  good 
cheer  about  them.  Yebis  is  the  central  figure,  holding  a fishing-rod  over 
his  shoulder  and  dancing  in  the  maddest  fashion  a fandango  to  the  music  of 
Benten’s  harp,  which  she  holds  in  her  lap.  Tossi-Toku  stands  a little  back, 
with  a grave  look,  and  opposite  him,  Bisjamon  leaning  on  his  tliree-headed 
spear,  contemptuously  regarding  the  antics  of  Yebis.  Daikoku,  supporting 
his  fat  cheeks  with  his  elbows  resting  on  his  plethoric  sack,  lying  on  his 
stomach,  is  bursting  with  laughter,  whilst  Hotel,  his  legs  doubled  beneath 
his  pot-belly,  head  thrown  back  on  his  huge  skin  wallet,  and  hands  uplifted, 
is  absolutely  convulsed  with  merriment.  Shiou-Ro’s  tall  head  comes  into 
the  back  ground  with  a very  rollicking  expression  of  countenance.  The 
sacred  turtle  is  intensely  watching  Yebis,  and  the  stately  stork  is  pirou- 
etting in  the  sky  above,  keeping  the  jolly  fisherman  company.  Is  this 
skepticism,  impiety,  caricature,  mere  fun,  or  serious  belief  in  the  artist  ? 
Whichever  it  is,  its  spirit  is  characteristic  of  the  way  the  Japanese  view 
these  divinities  and  their  faith  in  them,  which  seems  none  the  less  for 
their  entertaining  themselves  after  the  fashion  of  mere  mortals.  I have 
another  picture  in  which  Kiti-ziyau-ten  is  pounding  Shiou-Ro,  who  is  face- 
down on  the  ground,  with  a big  bag,  whilst  Bisjamon,  pipe  in  hand,  lying 
on  his  back,  is  flirting  with  Benten,  and  Tossi-Toku  and  Dai-koku  are 
pleading  to  save  the  tipsy  old  man  from  being  too  severely  punished.  This 
latter  scene  is  the  one  represented  in  the  frontispiece,  taken  from  the  work 
“ Ye-ma-no-te-hen,”  or  “ Models  of  Paintings,”  etc.,  in  old  temples. 


SECTION  III. 


THE  LITERATURE  AND  POETRY  OF  JAPAN. 

The  immediate  effect  of  cheap  books  in  Europe  is 
to  deprive  art  of  its  old  intellectual  suprem- 

Effect  of  1 • • , 1 ! J , , , . , 

cheap  books  acy  by  giving  the  lead  to  the  reasoning  fac- 
ulties. Ungracious  as  is  this  temporary  ob- 
scuration of  the  aesthetic  disposition  in  its  immediate 
general  effects,  it  is  no  less  an  onward  step  in  civili- 
zation. Both  the  emotions  and  imagination,  as  with 
children,  take  the  precedence  with  nations  in  the 
development  of  their  mental  powers,  giving  rise  to 
distinctive  religious  and  artistic  phases  of  national 
life,  constantly  fluctuating  and  changing,  because  of 
their  undue  predominance  of  sensuous  and  sentimen- 
tal elements  and  deficiency  in  the  exact  sciences  and 
positive  philosophy.  We  have  yet  to  ascertain  if  the 
aesthetic  and  scientific  faculties,  in  their  most  profound 
meanings,  can  be  perfectly  balanced  in  one  harmoni- 
ous, complete  homogeneity,  whether  of  race  or  indi- 
vidual. In  looking  back  on  Japan,  we  get  a general 
likeness  to  what  must  have  been  the  dominant  passion 
of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  for  ornamental 
art ; for  until  yesterday,  there  obtained  in  this  coun- 
try a kindred  feudalism  and  division  of  society  into 
castes,  ranks,  and  guilds,  and  an  average  instruction  of 
the  people,  almost  identical  in  direction  and  quality 
with  what  prevailed  in  Europe  before  the  Renaissance. 

Japan  had  cheap  books,  I believe,  long  before  Eu- 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY.  101 

rope,  but  no  system  of  common  education  to  develop 
the  logical  powers  and  diffuse  useful  knowl- 

& r . The  alpha- 

edge.  On  the  contrary,  there  were  distinct  bets  of 
alphabets  or  methods  of  writing,  regulated 
by  the  social  condition  or  sex  of  the  scholar.  Women 
and  the  inferior  orders  were  taught  the  Hirakana  al- 
phabet, which  was  the  vulgar  one,  and  used  for  the 
more  ordinary  purposes.  A man  of  quality  master- 
ing this  could  read  his  wife’s,  daughters’,  or  servants’ 
letters,  but  they  could  not  decipher  his,  unless  they 
had  surreptitiously  learned  the  Katakana  alphabet, 
which  was  leserved  for  the  higher  male  classes  and 
scholarly  literature. 

But  the  literature  most  in  vogue,  common  and  in- 
telligible to  all,  and  constituting  the  real  Thepicto_ 
mental  diet  of  the  people,  was  incorpora-  J^and*' 
ted  into  a system  of  cheap  pictorial  books,  JhoSof 
often  executed  by  the  very  best  artists.  deslsners- 
The  chief  of  this  series  or  class  of  books,  the  most 
artistic  and  clever  in  every  sense,  was  done  by  a 
school  of  associated  artists  of  whom  one  Hoffksai, 
who  is  said  to  have  flourished  in  the  last  century, 
is  the  most  famous.  These  books  are  printed  from 
blocks,  either  plain  or  in  colors,  at  a single  impres- 
sion on  one  side  of  a delicately  tinted  and  very  thin 
paper,  which  is  doubled  and  left  uncut  to  form  a leaf 
that  very  frequently  divides  the  pictures  by  cutting 
it  in  halves,  leaving  part  on  one  page  and  part  on 
the  other,  a disfigurement  to  which  both  artists  and 
readers  seem  quite  indifferent.  But  whatever  loss 
this  may  involve,  it  is  far  more  than  compensated  by 
the  softness  and  delicacy  of  the  impressions  and  their 
uniform  excellence,  proving  how  skillful  the  Japanese 
are  in  engraving  on  wood,  and  their  intimate  knowl- 


102  A GLIMPSE  AT  TEE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


edge  of  the  material  substances  used.  They  contrive 
to  get  their  very  best  qualities  out  of  them  by  a 
species  of  manual  freemasonry.  We  have  no  pro- 
cesses by  which  the  vital  points  and  characteristics  of 
things  are  rendered  with  a corresponding  cheapness, 
facility,  precision,  and  sensibility. 

These  sketch-books  or  albums  embody  the  history, 
poetrv,  rnvtlis,  arts,  trades,  legends,  mvthol- 

Sketch-  r i n ' 

books  ogy,  magic,  jugglery,  nddles,  jokes,  science, 
natural  history,  in  fine,  the  entire  life  of  the 
people  in  a compact,  handy  form,  and  are  equiv- 
alent to  as  many  popular  lectures  or  cheap  travels  in 
keeping  alive  and  perpetuating  their  artistic  instincts. 
As  they  are  taught  by  the  pictorial  representations 
or  symbols  of  things  rather  than  by  the  text,  which 
forms  but  an  extremely  small  portion  of  the  books, 
often  consisting  of  only  a few  characters  interpreted 
with  the  sketch  itself  in  a comer,  or  at  random  in  the 
page,  the  style  of  the  design  is  with  them  the  chief 
point,  and  of  the  same  relative  importance  that  the 
style  of  the  composition  is  in  our  books.  Theirs 
graphically  focus  into  a small  compass  all  that  is  best 
and  worst  in  their  taste,  true  or  false  in  their  charac- 
ters and  deportment,  without  the  least  disguise  or  af- 
fectation. It  is  plain  to  see  these  designs  are  the  un- 
tutored language  of  a race,  or  at  least  of  a class,  very 
fond  of  holding  up  their  mirrors  to  nature,  indifferent 
as  to  the  moment  it  reflects  their  ideas  or  image  and 
what  it  discloses.  There  is  an  unmistakable  generic 
similarity  of  expression  and  method  in  all,  indicating  a 
common  fountain-head  or  school  of  art,  but  exhibiting 
various  degrees  of  merit  and  distinctions  of  touch  and 
style,  showing  different  hands,  from  the  most  mas- 
terly to  the  more  timid  or  conventional  of  a pupil  or 
imitator. 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY.  103 

In  speaking  of  this  pictorial  literature  we  must  not 
overlook  the  radical  changes  which  are  now  ^ over_ 
affecting  it,  as  well  as  other  objects,  fre-  ^ old 
quently  rendering  what  was  true  of  to-day 
obsolete  or  transformed  on  the  morrow.  Tesult- 
The  old  art,  of  which  alone  I treat,  as  a distinctive 
national  feature,  is  rapidly  being  revolutionized.  It 
may  linger  awhile  longer  in  a few  localities  in  the 
shape  of  a tradition  of  the  past,  but  nothing  new  is 
invented  in  the  spirit  of  former  times.  With  the 
complete  overturn  of  those  ideas  and  habits  which 
gave  it  birth,  there  can  be  but  one  end  to  the  gen- 
uine indigenous  art  — its  extinction.  And  this  comes 
the  faster  because  the  restored  Mikados,  the  patrons 
of  Shintoism,  from  principle  are  more  or  less  hos- 
tile to  Buddhism,  which  was  the  adopted  faith  of 
the  usurping  Shogoons,  their  late  rivals.  These  last 
rulers,  although  somewhat  inclined  to  baroquism  in 
taste,  were  prodigal  in  the  artistic  adornments  of 
their  tombs,  temples,  and  palaces.  Hubner,  writing 
of  the  sanctuaries  of  “ Shinba  ” says  : “ One  is  over- 
whelmed at  each  step  by  the  richness  of  the  mate- 
rials, the  prodigality  of  the  decoration,  the  fineness 
of  details  and  the  solemn  magnificence  of  the  entire 
spectacle  ! ” 

The  best  period  of  the  Shogoon  art  embraces  the 
fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries 
of  our  era.  After  the  reign  of  the  distin-  of  the 
guished  Ta’fko-Sama,  known  also  under  the 
name  of  Hide-yoshi,  A.  D.  1586-1591,  as  in  Europe, 
there  was  a steady  but  more  gradual  decadence. 
Now  that  the  Mikados  have  begun  to  destroy  or  dis- 
mantle the  temples  and  monasteries,  confiscate  their 
revenues,  and  sell  their  sacred  paraphernalia,  all  of 


104  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Japanese  art  based  on  the  religious  motives  of  Bud- 
dhism seems  destined  to  a speedy  destruction,  and 
threatens  to  leave  Japan,  at  least  for  awhile,  in  the 
same  barren  condition,  as  regards  its  better  art,  as 
was  England  after  the  spoliation  of  the  Roman 
Church  by  Henry  VIII.  Indeed,  the  parallel  seems 
likely  to  be  all  the  more  striking,  inasmuch  as  strict 
Shintoism  implies  as  direct  iconoclasm  as  the  Puri- 
tanism of  England  in  Cromwell’s  time,  if  not  the  utter 
negation  of  all  ritualistic  forms  of  worship,  thus  cut- 
ting off  all  art’s  opportunities  in  a religious  direction, 
and  relegating  it  for  its  precarious  support  to  the 
material  interests,  tastes,  and  current  skepticism  of 
the  population  at  large. 

Fortunately,  as  we  perceive  at  each  step  of  our 
r { inspection,  the  people  still  have  a deep- 

nature  of  seated  love  of  familiar  nature  and  its  cor- 

the  people.  . . 

responding  art,  whilst  their  daily  habits 
confirm  their  devotion  to  both,  and  their  appreciation 
of  their  interchangeable  aspects  and  functions.  Both 
in  Europe  and  in  America  this  desire  has  to  be  cre- 
ated and  fostered  by  direct  instructions.  To  young 
and  old,  nature,  as  an  aesthetic  object,  is  a good  deal  of 
a bore,  necessary  to  be  done  occasionally  as  are  mu- 
seums in  a foreign  tour,  either  for  health,  fashion,  or 
recreation  ; but  with  no  real  sympathy  or  understand- 
ing of  it.  Society,  high  and  low,  hinges  itself  mainly 
on  material  interests  and  enjoyments,  and  likes  best 
that  art  which  pays  the  most  flattering  tribute  to 
individual  egoisms.  In  Japan,  irrespective  of  relig- 
ious ideas,  even  the  peasant  has  an  almost  exaggerated 
love  of  the  picturesque,  both  in  the  objective  and 
the  mystical  sides  of  nature.  A poetical  and  spirit- 
ual, and  perhaps  a superstitious,  pantheistic  appre- 


1 


• ..  V*/ " 


i 

* 


. . r . - 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


105 


hension  of  the  natural  world,  besides  a thoroughly 
realistic  enjoyment  of  it,  comes  forcibly  to  him  as  a 
blood  inheritance  from  remote  ancestors,  unmixed 
as  yet  with  other  people’s  inherited  idiosyncracies. 
Whatever  makes  up  a sensuous,  imaginative  tem- 
perament, is  lively  felt  by  him.  He  rejoices  sin- 
cerely, or  appears  to  in  his  art,  in  the  facts  of  his 
daily  being  ; is  still  a naive  child  of  nature.  Hereto- 
fore his  wants  have  been  few  and  easily  met.  When 
trees  blossom  and  flowers  bloom,  the  farmer’s  family 
gojnto  ecstasy,  not  because  of  a prospective  crop,  but 
at  the  beauty  of  the  spectacle.  Old  Japan  has  never 
been  greedy  of  riches  or  lustful  of  conquests.  It  was 
content  to  be  left  alone  to  its  own  resources  of  happi- 
ness. Extremes  of  wealth  and  penury  were  Habits  of  all 
rare.  The  nobles  were  open-handed,  the 
people  obedient  and  loyal.  All  ranks  liked  and  lo^fof8 
pretexts  for  amusing  themselves  and  tak-  nature- 
ing  life  “ a la  picnic  ” as  much  as  possible.  Hence 
the  prevailing  insouciance , numerous  pageants,  fetes, 
and  pilgrimages,  both  laical  and  clerical.  The  abstract 
teachings  and  practical  philosophy  of  the  disciples  of 
Confucius  made  no  conspicuous  impression  on  the  old- 
time  habits  of  the  Japanese.  Their  axioms  might 
serve  as  texts  to  sermons,  or  moral  points  to  the  ro- 
mancers, but  their  influence  on  the  multitude  ceased 
here.  Even  the  politicians  came  at  last,  so  says 
Hubner,  to  confound  them  with  the  original  dogmas 
of  the  aboriginal  Shintoism,  and  both  in  the  end 
were  in  great  measure  forgotten  by  the  populace. 
Their  most  familiar  art,  unlike  European,  was  bone 
of  their  bone,  flesh  of  their  flesh,  born  of  their  own 
feelings  and  sentiments ; truly  their  aesthetic  vernac- 
ular, giving  vent  to  their  beliefs,  emotions,  passions, 


106  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


and  actions,  and  not  a special  distinction  and  produc- 
tion of  the  culture,  rank,  and  wealth  of  their  coun- 
try, as  in  Italy,  France,  and  Spain.  It  is  even  sur- 
mised that  some  of  its  technical  short-comings  were 
due  not  so  much  to  the  ignorance  of  the  artist  as  to 
his  conservative  desire  to  keep  on  the  level  of  the 
common  people’s  standard  of  viewing  its  objects, 
which  antiquity  and  their  own  long  personal  expe- 
rience had  made  a second  nature  to  them.  In  fact, 
it  is  no  easy  matter  to  change  for  the  better  the  way 
of  looking  at  or  enjoying  art  of  cultivated  people 
who  have  once  unconsciously,  or  without  questioning 
the  grounds  of  their  taste,  settled  down  into  specific 
likes  or  dislikes.  Much  more  those  who  have  always 
accepted  their  impressions  and  associations  as  first 
received  and  implicitly  believed  in  them. 

Nevertheless,  I have  seen  Japanese  books  of  draw- 
Perspectiye  i n which  linear  perspective  was  clearly 
Japanese  ar-  shown  and  taught.  Baron  de  Hubner,  an 
taste.  experienced  observer,  fresh  from  the  best 
schools  of  design  in  Europe,  observes  that  he  saw  in  an 
ancient  temple  at  Iviyoto  “ a picture  of  three  women 
at  the  entrance  of  a palace,  worthy  of  our  great  mas- 
ters and  faultless  in  perspective.”  Still  we  must  not 
overmuch  emphasize  the  exceptional  features  of  Jap- 
anese art,,  but  accept  it  as  generally  understood  and 
practiced. 

The  motives  of  the  figure-art  already  examined, 
Motives  of  appertain  chiefly  to  their  religious  ideas, 
figure-art.  Qur  enjoyment  of  it  cannot  be  so  hearty 
and  complete  as  of  that  based  on  the  social  life,  the 
natural  history,  and  the  landscape  of  Japan,  because 
in  this  there  are  fewer  drawbacks  from  imperfect 
comprehension  or  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  theme. 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


107 


Indeed,  we  are  let  into  an  artistic  paradise  of  an  orig- 
inal character,  which  Europe  does  not  rival.  This  is 
specially  true  of  the  strictly  Decorative  Art.  No 
other  race  understands  better  the  vital  exigencies  of 
ornamentation,  or  is  more  skillful  in  manual  practice. 
Here  the  Japanese  have  obtained  as  decisive  a mas- 
tery as  the  Greeks  in  treating  the  human  form.  Out- 
side of  plastic  art,  within  their  own  limits,  the 
Japanese  even  succeed  in  this.  There  are  two  prin- 
cipal schools  of  the  figure,  that  of  Kiyoto,  Twochjef 
the  .spiritual  capital  of  the  Mikados,  being  thcf^char^ 
the  oldest.  It  is  imbued,  as  was  the  early  acteristlcs- 
Italian,  with  Byzantine  feeling,  and  is  impregnated 
with  the  Chinese  love  of  repose  and  richness  of  deco- 
ration, tending  to  laborious  minute  conventionalism 
rather  than  to  strictly  artistic  invention.  Neverthe- 
less, it  displays  superlative  delicacy  and  brilliancy  of 
illumination,  picturesque  skill  in  composition,  and  a 
felicitous  balancing  and  tempering  of  masses  of  color 
and  gold.  It  devotes  itself  chiefly  to  sacred  and  his- 
torical topics,  or  those  favored  by  the  aristocratic 
susceptibilities  of  the  imperial  family.  Like  the  art 
of  the  miniaturists  of  mediaeval  Europe,  with  which 
it  was  contemporary  in  origin,  it  formed  a religious 
historical  and  romantic  school  partial  to  gold  back- 
grounds and  magnificence  of  decoration,  chiefly  under 
the  direction  of  Buddhist  monks.  These  had  ac- 
quired the  art  of  clouding  the  page  on  which  they 
wrote  with  gold  powder  and  leaf  of  varied  tints  and 
brilliancy,  intermixing  figures  and  text  with  golden 
masses  and  suggestions  of  forms,  so  as  to  illumine  the 
page  and  give  the  effect  of  dissolving  views,  not  un- 
like the  softened  splendor  of  the  sun’s  rays  in  the 
landscape  as  they  pass  through  mists.  The  quiet, 


108  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


though  somewhat  monotonous,  refinement  of  design, 
and  the  harmonious  elegance  of  coloring,  without  ob- 
scuring the  story,  seduce  the  senses  into  a languid 
forgetfulness  of  it,  as  the  ear  often  drinks  in  the 
music  of  an  opera  while  the  eye  is  unmindful  of  the 
stage-scenery.  This  fascination  belongs  to  the  best 
Decorative  Art  of  the  Orient  everywhere.  But  the 
Japanese  miniatures  are  wanting  in  the  intense  real- 
istic characterization  and  vivid  action  which  constitute 
the  prominent  traits  of  the  more  decidedly  indigenous 
school  as  represented  by  the  pencil  of  Hoffksai  and 
his  numerous  followers. 

The  antithesis  of  Grecian  design  is  the  rule  of  the 
more  secular  Japanese  art.  Mobility  and  flexibility 
of  body  and  features  ; moments  of  liveliest  action  and 
surprise,  real,  homely,  often  grossly  exaggerated,  but 
as  the  Greeks  intensify  repose ; and,  above  all,  abso- 
lute distinct  individualism  in  every  figure,  each  one 
a character , as  we  specially  define  the  term,  and  doing 
something  with  all  his  might,  sometimes  rather  more, 
putting  into  pictorial  action  the  quality  of  American 
drollery  which  verbally  delights  in  comically  contrast- 
ing and  intermixing  ideas  and  sentiments  and  turn- 
ing facts  inside  out  to  their  utter  confusion,  with  a 
realistic  vigor  and  ludicrous  unconsciousness  of  impos- 
sibilities which  make  up  a frantically  ridiculous  joke, 
or  opposition  of  emotions.  This  is  a very  popular 
sort  of  wit.  In  the  genuine  Japanese  school  of  art 
there  is  no  nirvana.  Its  mobility  and  restlessness 
overcome  or  largely  temper  all  the  contemplative  ten- 
dencies of  the  imported  faith.  Besides  its  muscular 
and  gymnastic  bias,  it  is  fond  of  subtle  irony,  objec- 
tive humor,  and  an  intensity  of  naturalistic  action 
which,  when  not  extended  into  absolute  caricature, 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


109 


gives  to  the  art  a pungent  flavor,  like  repartee  to  con- 
versation. Sometimes  the  comic  and  sad  are  brought 
together  with  an  amazing  psychological  dexterity, 
causing  conflicting  emotions,  vividly  stirring  curiosity, 
and  leading  the  imagination  captive  into  strange  re- 
gions. Even  if  the  nerves  are  somewhat  excited  by 
surprising  “ tours  de  force,”  or  the  position  borders  on 
the  equivocal,  an  irresistible  comicality  is  ever  upper- 
most, and  leaves  nothing  serious  in  its  train  to  disturb 
either  conscience  or  taste,  provided  we  accept  the  sit- 
uation as  the  artist  really  means  it. 

Hoffksai’s  designs  are  extremely  varied,  thoroughly 
original  in  style,  and  give  the  idea  of  a rare 
spontaneity  of  execution.  They  either  seem  iioffksai  s 
caught  from  nature  as  it  were,  on  the  wing, 
or  else  are  veracious  fruit  of  his  own  daring  and  ec- 
centric imagination.  It  must  be  admitted,  in  a cos- 
mopolitan sense  they  form  a limited  art ; but  it  is  one 
which  encompasses  the  entire  sphere  of  Japanese  civ- 
ilization, and  is  second  to  none  in  forcible  characteri- 
zation and  vigor  of  pencil.  Guided  solely  by  its  own 
keen  instincts  and  pertinent  aims,  owing  nothing  to 
any  other  school  or  influence,  it  is  supreme  in  its  own 
ways  and  wholly  free  from  inane  types,  wearisome 
conventionalities,  and  pettiness  or  shams  of  any  sort ; 
it  goes  directly  to  its  point,  scorning  all  subterfuge ; 
sturdy,  versatile,  never  repeating  itself,  every  stroke 
and  thought  a distinct  note  in  art,  realistic  or  idealis- 
tic, as  the  motive  demands,  exhaustive  of  common  and 
aristocratic  life,  spicing  everything  it  touches  with 
racy  individuality,  few,  if  any  artists  of  any  country 
surpass  Hoffksai  in  the  faculty  of  making  common 
things  and  little  things  tell  more  pleasurably  to  the 
fancy  as  artistic  surprises  and  fresh  interpretations  of 
the  ordinary  phenomena  of  nature  and  society. 


110  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Somewhat  of  the  Japanese  facility  of  pencil  is  un- 
One  cause  of  doubtedly  caught  in  its  elementary  phase  in 
faciutyTf686  Earning  to  write  the  two  alphabets  most 
design.  -n  VOgUe>  a delicate  brush  and  dextrous 
handling  are  needed  to  make  their  bold  incisive 
strokes,  which  are  just  such  as  come  most  aptly  into 
their  system  of  drawing.  Indeed,  the  Katakana , or 
aristocratic  letters,  are  to  be  seen  combined  into  the 
guise  of  a learned  doctor,  with  a perfect  rendering  of 
his  dignified  pose  and  scholastic  costume,  while  the 
plebeian  Hirakana  is  allegorized  into  a beggar,  equally 
graphically  done.  Learning  to  write  becomes  in  Japan 
the  first  step  in  learning  to  draw  ; for  it  gives  the 
same  flexibility  of  stroke  to  the  fingers  that  fingering 
the  piano  by  the  Stuttgard  method  does  to  the  mu- 
sician’s touch.  A glance  at  any  one  of  Hoffksai’s 
albums  shows  the  analogy  between  Japanese  writing 
and  drawing  at  once.  The  arbitrary  signs  of  the 
alphabets  can  readily  be  expanded  into  vigorous  sug- 
gestions of  human  forms  and  drapery,  and  as  facilely 
decomposed  into  their  abstract  elements  again.  But 
the  informing  spirit  which  gives  such  intense  life  to 
their  personages  can  be  got  only  by  a most  sedulous 
observation  of  nature,  objectively  and  introspectively. 

A Japanese  draughtsman  is  not  less  successful  in 
delineating  natural  than  in  constructing  unnatural 
forms.  None  are  more  happy  in  hitting  the  exact 
limit  in  the  ridiculous  where  the  action  stops  short 
of  inane  caricature.  He  makes  the  position  droll  be- 
cause of  its  adroit  combination  of  probabilities,  rather 
than  possibilities,  under  conditions  which  he  himself 
creates.  We  are  all  familiar  with  French  plates  of 
the  effects  of  a high  wind  on  pedestrians  of  both 
sexes,  who  make  a prurient  display  of  limbs  and  per- 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


Ill 


sonal  encounters,  forming  a picture  unseemly  alike  to 
eye  and  fancy.  Holfksai,  taking  a similar  event, 
sends  drapery  wildly  flying,  entangling  arms  and  legs, 
blinding  eyes,  and  getting  its  owners  into  a furious 
turmoil,  without  indecency  of  drawing  or  exciting 
other  emotion  than  honest,  laughter. 

What  a nice  sense  of  humor,  too,  there  is  in  his 
plate  of  a tired  porter  asleep  on  the  ground,  with 
his  brawny  legs  across  one  another,  only  to  see  him- 
self in  his  dreams  working  harder  than  ever  ! Again 
we  see  the  facile  production  of  art  burlesqued  by  an 
artist  represented  as  seated  before  an  immense  screen, 
or  canvas,  painting  in  a most  vehement  manner 
with  a brush  in  each  hand  and  between  the  toes  of 
each  foot  with  a supplemental  fifth  tied  to  his  nose. 
Where  do  we  find  his  superior  in  depicting  gymnasts, 
fencers,  wrestlers,  and  scenes  that  call  for  the  utmost 
muscular  exertion  and  dexterity  ? He  is  as  felicitous 
in  limning  steady  industry  of  all  sorts,  perpetrating 
on  occasion  the  inevitable  joke  — each  person  doing 
his  heartiest,  and  making  the  spectator  feel  that  he  is, 
without  any  consciousness  of  self-exhibition  and  of 
the  impotent  model  which  is  so  obtruded  on  the  sight 
in  European  art  nowadays.  If  it  be  a woman  scrub- 
bing herself,  or  a resisting  urchin  in  a tub  of  water,  a 
fine  lady  at  her  toilette,  a family  quarrel,  a pleasure 
party,  a physician  examining  the  tongue  of  a patient, 
half  choked  in  forcing  it  out  of  his  mouth,  a musical 
critic  tortured  by  an  unwelcome  serenade,  an  unmen- 
tionable punishment  of  a faulty  servant,  blind  men 
leading  one  another  astray  in  crossing  a river,  — in 
fine,  whatever  the  topic,  and  however  complicated  the 
scrape,  it  is  executed  with  a realistic  swing  of  pencil 
and  naivete  of  expression  that  commends  it  to  the 


112  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


sight  as  actual  life  itself.  So  simply,  too,  with  so  few 
strokes  and  touches,  so  much  reserved  power  and  so 
little  artifice,  is  the  occult  mechanism  of  humanity 
revealed  to  us  that  we  seem  to  have  a clairvoyant  in- 
sight into  the  consciousness  of  the  actors.  This  inner 
being  of  the  object  shown  constitutes  its  chiefest  iden- 
tity, and  is  evoked  by  such  slight  technical  means 
that  at  first  we  overlook  its  wonderful  artistic  sim- 
plicity in  admiration  of  the  spirit  of  the  composition 
in  the  whole. 

The  skillful  manner  — hiding,  if  I may  so  term  it, 
the  manual  means  — with  which  Japanese 
fuddVrecl.  artists  bring  vividly  in  view  the  animating 
Japanese  idea  of  their  work  is  also  wonderful.  It 
designers  may  (j(>ne  by  a few  lines,  dots,  blotches 

of  light,  shade,  or  color : always  simply  and  sparsely 
with  no  unnecessar}’-  labor,  and  certain  to  stop  at  the 
precise  point  the  idea  is  reached,  without  elaborating 
any  detail  not  absolutely  required  to  complete  the 
unity  and  emphasize  the  meaning  of  the  composition  ; 
doing  too  little,  rather  than  too  much,  technically ; 
concentrating  the  attention  on  the  artistic  aim  and 
with  slight  perceptible  effort  hinting  a whole  biogra- 
phy of  an  individual,  or  the  complete  habits  and  in- 
stincts of  an  animal,  the  nature  of  a plant,  the  state 
of  atmosphere  and  the  sentiment  of  a season.  Ex- 
plicit force  of  design  for  the  eye  and  unlimited  sug- 
gestion for  the  mind  ; economy  of  labor,  luxury  of 
idea,  aesthetic  seriousness,  solidarity,  conciseness,  and 
drollery,  devoid  of  Gallic  levity,  license,  and  little- 
ness of  purpose,  or  American  impatience,  pretense,  and 
superficiality,  such  are  some  of  the  elements  I recog- 
nize in  this  unique  school,  rendering  it  an  example  to 
those  academies  which  do  so  much  and  express  so 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY.  113 

little,  and,  blinded  by  their  systems,  lose  sight  of  the 
real  intent  and  substance  of  art. 

Although  the  predilection  for  action  is  most  con- 
spicuous, the  Japanese  understand  equally  Reposeas 
well  how  to  render  contemplative  repose,  as  8toodua“dcr' 
in  the  figures  of  gentlemen  on  their  balco-  actlon- 
nies,  overlooking  a wide  landscape,  in  passive  enjoy- 
ment of  moonlight  or  rapt  in  thought.  These  are 
simply  perfect  in  pose  and  feeling.  Thus  also,  poets 
meditating  by  the  sea  ; harsh-featured  men  on  the 
brink  of  precipices,  so  absorbed  in  gloomy  reverie 
as  to  be  seen  to  form  a part  of  the  wild,  speechless 
world  around  them  ; with  passion-lit  faces,  indicative 
of  inward  strife  ; a momentary  lull  in  a stormy  life, 
to  gather  fresh  momentum  of  action. 

Opposed  in  sentiment  and  attitude,  with  relaxed 
tension  of  limb  and  nerveless  looks,  are  ^ ^ t 

numerous  images  of  ecstatic  saints  and 
holy  men  enjoying  incipient  beatitude.  Not  even 
Fra  Angelico  endows  his  holy  personages  with  a 
more  rapturous  bliss  and  impassive  serenity.  But 
these  transcendental  motives  are  opposed  to  the  gen- 
eral bias  of  Japanese  art,  and  only  serve  to  show  with 
what  facility  it  can  lend  itself  to  extremes  of  thought 
and  action.  Their  artistic  sway  over  ani-  Treatment 
mal  and  vegetable  life  is  as  complete  as  over  and^egllL 
men.  Moreover,  they  are  eminently  sue-  blellfe- 
cessful  in  giving  to  animals  a human  character  and 
physiognomy,  and  the  psychological  reverse,  as  well 
as  impregnating  dumb  nature  with  other  meaning 
than  its  own.  Indeed,  there  is  a predilection  for  the 
dark  and  mysterious  in  life,  almost  as  strong  as  for 
the  poetically  sweet  and  true. 

Japanese  of  all  classes  being  trained  from  infancy 

s 


114  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


to  familiar  relations  with  nature,  it  is  a national  cus- 


Fondness 
for  out-door 
life  and 
objects. 


tom  during  spring-time  to  make  family  ex- 
cursions into  the  distant  country  in  order 
to  enjoy  the  saJcura  or  mountain  cherry 


trees  when  the  wild  blossoms  are  fullest  and  color 


the  deepest.  They  fill  their  pictures  specially  with 
this  beautiful  flower,  and  seem  to  revel  in  its  vigor- 
ous tints.  One  of  their  old  poets  thus  alludes  to 
them : — 

“ The  dark-massed  shadows  flecked, 

By  the  mountain  cherry’s  bloom.” 

Again, 

11  Should  the  mountain  cherry  cease 
In  the  spring-time  of  the  year, 

With  its  mass  of  new-born  bloom, 

Mortal  men  to  cheer ; alas, 

Would  the  heart  of  spring  be  gone, 

And  its  brightness  fade  away.” 


This  habit  helps  engender  a passionate  fondness  for 
out-door  existence,  and  a hearty  appreciation  of  what- 
ever is  beautiful  in  landscape.  Their  houses  are  con- 
structed so  as  to  admit  ample  views  of  the  country, 
while,  as  compared  with  European  homes,  there  is 
much  less  to  attach  them  very  fixedly  to  the  interiors, 
construe-  Built  of  the  flimsiest  materials  in  the  light- 
fumEhing  est  but  neatest  manner,  held  together  only 
of  houses,  ky  w00c|en  pins,  containing  the  most  com- 
bustible articles,  they  burn  like  lucifer  matches  in  the 
frequent  conflagrations  which  devastate  the  towns, 
but  are  quickly  and  cheaply  re-made.  This  alone  is 
sufficient  to  hinder  the  growth  of  those  profound  as- 
sociations with  a family  hearth-stone,  dear  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  heart  and  so  conducive  to  an  indoor  art 
and  luxury,  and  to  throw  our  Japanese  brother  more 
upon  his  out-door  resources  for  social  happiness.  His 
requirements  of  housekeeping  are  extremely  few  and 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


115 


simple.  Clean  mats  for  beds  and  seats,  a few  wooden 
pillows,  prodigiously  uncomfortable,  a portable  stove, 
a score  or  more  of  lacquer  and  porcelain  dishes,  per- 
haps a pretty  cabinet  to  hold  writing  and  drawing 
materials  and  their  few  small  objects  of  art,  a musi- 
cal instrument  or  two,  and  as  many  screen-paintings ; 
these  quite  suffice  a young  couple’s  wants,  and  as  for 
this  matter,  an  old  one’s  too. 

Instead  of  costly  framed  landscapes  hung  on  their 
walls,  the  nobles  make  their  rooms  scrupulously  clean, 
airy  and  spacious,  with  movable  divisions  Divisions 
or  screens,  which  can  be  so  arranged  as  to  hotsS-ens; 
leave  open,  as  if  inclosed  in  frames,  attrac-  ranged' 
tive  vistas  of  out-door  scenery.  Often  the  screens 
themselves  are  made  of  the  finest  materials  and  either 
elaborately  worked  in  gold  and  silk,  or  richly  painted 
with  landscapes,  and  scenes  from  national  myths  and 
history,  or  curious  and  capricious  devices,  so  aestheti- 
cally ingenious  as  to  afford  an  endless  entertainment 
to  the  eye,  and  which  are  as  readily  shifted  as  the 
scenes  of  a theatre. 

Regarding  nature,  the  Japanese  manifest  a very 
sensitive  aesthetic  conscience.  Believing  it  The  {esthetic 
to  be  the  most  satisfactory  source  of  enjoy-  orthe  jap* 
ment,  whether  by  itself  or  transfigured  by  anese 
art,  they  study  to  secure  her  best  in  multiform  ways, 
with  no  end  of  variations  and  inventions.  It  is  this 
wholesome  habit  of  mind  which  has  prevented  them 
from  stagnating  like  the  Chinese,  despite  kindred 
faiths  and  equally  changeless  codes  and  customs. 
Their  love  of  nature  being  at  the  bottom  of  their  love 
of  art,  the  two  are  so  mingled  as  to  save  them  from 
the  grosser  materialisms  of  their  neighbors,  and  to 
preserve  in  them  a perpetual  juvenescence  of  feeling, 


116  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  APT  OF  JAPAN. 

elasticity  of  temperament,  quickness  of  intellect,  al- 
most Arcadian  simplicity  of  life,  and  general  goodness 
of  disposition. 

The  charm  of  the  towns  chiefly  lies  in  their  beauti- 
charms  of  ful  positions,  lovely  gardens,  stately  groves, 
their  cities.  an(j  ruraj  interminglings.  Picturesque  soli- 
tudes abound  in  the  centres  of  the  densest  populations. 
These  waifs  of  far-off  wildernesses  are  devoted  to  offi- 
ces of  religion  and  rustic  pleasures,  which  have  much 
in  common.  They  further  serve  as  bountiful  reser- 
voirs of  health,  distributing  to  each  city  threshold  the 
pure  air  of  the  dearly  beloved  country.  This  appre- 
ciation of  nature  extends  to  her  gifts  both  small  and 
great.  A European  can  hardly  take  in  the  passionate 
joy  of  a Yedoite  in  his  darling  Fusi-yama,  the  “ peer- 
less ” mountain,  whose  volcanic  cone,  clothed  in  eter- 
nal snow,  lifting  itself  high  into  the  intensely  blue 
azure  of  his  native  skies,  in  magnificent  silence,  is  his 
climax  of  sublimity  in  the  material  world,  symbol  of 
imperishable  patriotism,  and  of  his  celestial  paradise. 
Neither  can  he  share  his  intimacy  with  the  animal 
world  and  the  secrets  of  its  varied  instincts.  The 
wondrous  ethereality  of  the  atmosphere,  defining  dis- 
tant places  as  sharply  as  the  lines  of  an  engraving, 
alternately  with  semi-transparent  mists,  which  sug- 
gest new  forms  and  veil  the  old,  gives  an  additional 
charm  to  the  landscape.  When  weird  in  aspect,  as 
we  have  seen,  his  fancy  peoples  it  with  spirits  thin  as 
air,  strange  in  form  and  hue,  wishing  him  weal  or 
woe,  according  to  their  disposition.  With  a more 
materialistic  sense  he  delights  in  his  wild  camelias  in 
full  blossom,  fifty  feet  tall,  the  songless  birds  of  bright 
plumage  that  add  to  the  deep  hush  of  the  forests,  and 
favorite  picnic  grounds,  with  their  musical  waters  and 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


117 


enamel  of  wild  flowers.  These  are  but  a few  of  the 
beloved  agencies  of  his  outer  world  that  serve  to  keep 
him  in  a more  cheerful  mood  and  his  aesthetic  percep- 
tions keener  than  those  of  most  other  civilized  peoples. 

Unlike  Greek  poetry,  that  of  Japan  is  full  of  de- 
scriptions of  the  landscape.  The  popular 
feeling  finds  vent  almost  as  much  in  song  Japan,  its 

. . . . -i  -i  • t . . . . sentiment. 

as  in  painting  and  design.  In  general  it  is 
plaintive,  and  sung  to  the  accompaniment  of  a sam- 
mishen , a sort  of  banjo  or  guitar : or  a koto , a kind  of 
clavecin,  and  any  other  wind-instrument.  Some  of 
the  impromptu  stanzas  of  their  poets,  expressive  of 
their  intense  sympathy  with  nature,  are  very  sweet 
and  touching,  while  their  similes  are  beautifully  apt. 
I extract  brief  examples  and  some  similes  from  the 
collection  of  ancient  and  modern  poems,  known  as  the 
“ Kokinshin,”  first  quoted  by  the  Portuguese  Pere 
Rodriguez,  A.  D.  1604,  in  his  treatise  on  the  Jap- 
anese language,  and  cited  in  the  “ Westminster  Re- 
view” for  October,  1870. 

“ Icy  flakes  are  falling  fast 
Through  the  chilly  air,  and  now 
Yonder  trees  with  snow-bloom  laden, 

Do  assume  the  wild  plum’s  guise, 

With  their  mass  of  snowy  flowers, 

Gladd’ning  winter’s  dreary  time.” 

“Darkening  the  wintry  air, 

Clouds  are  gathering  in  the  sky, 

Rain-drops  sparsely  patter  down, 

And  the  frozen  tears  melting 
Drip  from  yonder  willow  tree, 

Through  the  chilly  vapours  seen, 

Sadly  bending  o’er  the  stream.” 

“ There  the  dizzy  water-fall, 

Flashes  mid  the  hill- side  bowers, 

“ Never  shall  the  sacred  child, 

Weary  of  the  pleasing  murmur.” 


118 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


“Nor  of  gentler  beaming  moon 
Hail  the  shadow-fringing  shimmer.” 

“Vaguely  erring  smoke.” 

“Bright  i’  th’  sun  gleams  Suka’s  peak, 

Cloud-veiled  Sudska’s  summit  bleak, 

Tseuchi’s  top  between  doth  lie, 

Rain-dimmed,  hid  from  traveller’s  eye.” 

There  is  no  false,  sickly  sentiment  in  these  effusions, 
but  the  same  sincerity  of  feeling,  delicacy  of  touch, 
felicity  of  comparison  and  truth  of  observation  that 
are  to  be  observed  in  the  sister  arts.  As  a specimen 
of  kindred  metrical  realism  of  a corresponding  vigor, 
the  following  stanza,  from  a dramatic  romance,  is 
noteworthy.  It  represents  a girl  hastening  to  meet 
lier  lover  by  water  — 

“ Ha ! Atsta’s  shrine  descry  we  yonder  ? Yes  — 

Full  seven  leagues  across  the  bay. 

Haul  taut  the  sail,  bend,  mother,  to  th’  oar, 

With  measured  stroke  — away,  away  — 

Haste,  mother,  haste,  far  yet  the  farther  shore  — 

0 mother,  every  nerve  be  strained ! ” 

“ How  fierce  the  hail  drives  through  the  windy  air, 

We  cover  from  the  storm  our  heads  ; 

Now  side  by  side  our  barques  through  the  waters  tear  — 

Now  one  the  laggard  other  leads.” 

The  earliest  myths  of  Japan,  antedating  the  demi- 
Eariiest  gods,  g°  back  to  the  dawn  of  human  life,  if 
myths.  not  our  planet  at  least  to  its  presence 
here  at  a period  when  mind,  beginning  to  try  its  half- 
fledged  powers,  transformed  the  phenomena  of  the 
skies  and  atmosphere  into  personalities  more  or  less 
monstrous  and  superhuman.  They  are  said  to  show 
as  fertile,  if  not  as  cultivated  invention  as  those  of 
the  corresponding  pre-historic  epoch  in  Greece,  and 
abound  in  similar  cosmic  significance  and  potential 
imagery ; either  the  almost  spent  reminiscences  of  a 
once  higher  state  of  existence  or  the  mystical  intui- 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


119 


tions  of  the  child-life  of  man,  who,  as  his  powers  be- 
come matured,  is  left  by  his  guardian  agencies  more 
to  his  own  control,  that  he  may  develop  himself  into 
a self-sustaining  being.  The  logical  end  of  man 
would  seem  to  be  to  acquire  a lordship  over  nature 
in  virtue  of  self-conquest  and  growth  through  much 
tribulation  and  unceasing  effort ; every  mistake  pilot- 
ing him  to  a surer  channel  and  bringing  him  nearer 
the  ultimate  purpose  of  humanity. 

The  sacred  literature  and  traditions  of  all  peoples 
become  more  simple  in  form  and  elevated  in 

A _ Sacred  tradi- 

tone  as  they  are  traced  backwards  towards  tions  and 

i t i literature. 

their  primary  beginnings  ; more  symbolical 
and  supernal  in  character  and  imagery,  and  grow  to 
be  materialized  and  overlain  with  merely  human  fan- 
cies and  experiences  as  they  approach  historical  times. 
Our  first  ancestors  sought  to  scale  heaven  by  the  open 
ladder  by  which  Jacob’s  angels  came  and  went.  We 
are  trying  to  grope  our  way  thitherward  by  the  back- 
stairs of  positivism.  Once  the  quickened  imagina- 
tion, like  the  photographer’s  plate  to  rays  of  light, 
was  keenly  sensitive  to  intuitions  born  of  spiritual 
knowledge.  Now,  reason  closes  this  portal  of  the  soul 
and  allows  nothing  to  pass  not  indorsed  by  exact  sci- 
ence. And  reason  is  in  the  right.  For  the  imagi- 
nation had  allowed  itself  to  become  the  tool  of  super- 
stition and  to  be  perverted  to  destructive  and  debas- 
ing ambitions.  Even  though  reason  might  for  a brief 
moment  overthrow  existing  religious  dogma  of  every 
kind,  and  cause  its  complex  superstructures  to  fall  to 
the  ground,  man  would  in  the  end  gain  in  spiritual 
strength  and  knowledge,  by  the  rigid  separation  of 
the  wheat  of  faith  from  its  chaff.  Every  event  which 
opens  up  to  research  more  definitely  the  properties  of 


120  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


soul  or  matter,  or  discloses  more  profoundly  their  rel- 
ative functions  and  limitations,  contributes  towards 
the  solution  of  the  paramount,  unavoidable  problem 
of  man’s  own  existence,  — whence  came  he,  how  should 
he  live  and  whither  does  he  go.  Japanese  myths  and 
art  at  first  look  may  appear  to  have  little  in  them 
helpful  to  us  in  this  direction.  But  the  more  I inves- 
tigate them  the  more  I find  they  are  instructive  and 
enjoyable,  and  the  more  earnest  I become  to  impart 
my  convictions  to  my  readers. 

All  genuine  art  is  so  suggestive  in  its  twofold 
nature  that  it  is  continually  prompting  the 
nature  of  aii  mind  to  reflect  on  many  questions  and  issues, 
genuine  ar . an^  £0  perceive  much  which  does  not  always 

seem  in  the  outset  to  belong  to  it.  But  the  outward 
eyes  see  things  in  one  aspect  and  the  brain  in  another. 
To  the  lattet  is  opened,  as  to  Peter  in  his  trance,  a 
vision  of  all  sorts  of  objects,  common  or  uncommon, 
let  down  from  heaven  for  his  use.  Occult  things  do 
exist  and  it  is  for  us  to  find  them  out  and  trace  them 
to  their  origins.  For  this  end  we  must  often  wander 
from  the  plain  beaten  track  into  those  psychological 
paths  which  lead  to  unexpected  views,  or  another  as- 
pect of  the  object  than  that  which  falls  only  on  the 
retina  of  the  eye.  Thus  a glimpse  into  the  songs  of 
a people,  or,  as  with  the  Greeks,  their  dramas  and 
epics,  and  the  poems  of  Dante  with  the  mediae valists, 
discloses  the  spirit  of  much  that  animates  their  objec- 
tive art  and  which  would  not  easily  be  found  without 
their  literary  cooperation.  That  art  which  is  only 
skin-deep  is  not  worth  looking  at  twice.  Having  no 
meaning  deeper  than  the  drag  of  the  brush,  the  im- 
pression it  leaves  on  the  mind  is  equally  shallow. 

There  is  another  side  to  Japanese  art  besides  that 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


121 


of  its  prevalent  gayety,  contentment,  and  rollicking 
pleasure  in  things  material  and  common.  Thepiam- 
It  chiefly  Expends  itself  in  music  or  song,  c2%nddPe-’ 
but  also  finds  continual  expression  in  design  JJJ j?]2L!ee 
and  carving.  Japanese  children  are  early  poetry- 
taught  to  chant  in  chorus  the  fundamental  sounds  of 
their  speech  grouped  in  verses  of  four  lines  called  the 
Irowa.  In  some  of  these  songs  thus  formed,  there 
flows  a deep  undercurrent  of  plaintiveness,  a mystical 
apprehension  of  the  unseen  forces  that  brood  over 
nature  for  woe  rather  than  for  weal,  at  times  almost 
sublime  in  its  spiritual  hold  on  matter,  at  others  dis- 
mally materialistic  and  despairing  ; the  piteous  refrain 
of  resignation  to  the  inevitable,  or  pious  acceptation  of 
the  transitoriness  of  earthly  objects  and  pleasures,  be- 
ing as  melancholy  in  tone  as  the  expressions  of  abso- 
lute forlornness  or  of  utterly  extinguished  hopes  as  to 
there  being  anything  better  in  store  for  man  than 
present  misery  and  final  extinction.  Neither  the  au- 
thor of  Ecclesiasticus,  nor  yet  the  Roman  Lucretius, 
nor  the  Italian  poet  Leopardi,  present  sadder  views  of 
life  or  utter  more  soul-rending  wails  of  skepticism 
than  do  some  of  the  poets  of  this  far-away  olden  “ Land 
of  Great  Peace  ; ” 1 thus  demonstrating  that  humanity 
under  the  most  diverse  forms  and  conditions  is  one 
and  the  same  offspring  of  a common  parent,  inherit- 
ing similar  intuitions,  desires,  and  feelings,  and  alike 
‘groping  in  universal  doubt  or  common  hope  in  quest 
of  “ more  light,”  or  else  sinking  into  a finality  of  de- 
spairing disbelief  and  utter  rebellion. 

But  whenever  the  popular  poetry  of  Japan  stops 
short  of  absolute  moral  stupor,  a resolute  ac-  Epicurean 

• • j , • • i i * • i ip  satisfaction 

quiescence  m the  inevitable,  or  buries  itself  in  wretch- 

• , • v • £ , i - edness  and 

in  the  impassiveness  of  nirvana,  taking  a spe-  disbelief. 

1 See  Appendix  II. 


122  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN.  . 


cies  of  epicurean  satisfaction  in  the  most  disheartening 
conclusions,  evidently  making  a sort  of  pathological 
luxury  of  wretchedness  and  annihilation,  it  tries  to 
extract  all  possible  joy  from  nature,  because  of  its  eva- 
nescence, changeability,  and  hostility.  It  also  shows 
its  scorn  of  fleeting  wealth  as  not  worth  the  amassing 
for  the  brief  tenure  of  human  existence  ; a phenome- 
non of  mind  more  peculiar  to  the  Orient  than  the 
Occident,  and  with  us  virtually  unknown. 

The  following  brief  extracts  vividly  illustrate  the 
current  poetical  feeling  to  which  I have 

Graphic  1 0 

realism  of  made  allusion.  They  exhibit  the  same  real- 

poetry  ; a ^ 

counterpart  istic  sharpness  of  outlines,  tender  or  sturdy 

of  their  de-  J 

sign  in  feel-  organism,  and  lack  of  balanced  light  and 

ing  and  aim.  ° . . ° . 

shade,  which  we  notice  m the  other  artistic 
forms,  whilst  all  are  closely  related  in  idea  and  ex- 
pression. 

“ Pensive  by  the  river  standing, 

Search  I long  the  clear  depths, 

Listening  to  the  shrilly  cries 
Echoing  through  the  streamy  land, 

Of  the  snipelets  up  the  river 
Calling  down  the  river  sharply, 

Calling  on  their  mates,”  etc. 

How  distinctly  we  hear  the  cries  of  these  wild 
birds  in  their  marshy  home,  so  directly  and  pointedly 
in  a few  incisive  words  brought  before  the  mind’s 
sight,  just  as  a few  sharp  strokes  of  the  artist’s  pen- 
cil present  the  same  scene  with  equal  force  to  the 
outward  eye.  This  is  the  only  true  sort  of  Pre-ra- 
phaelite art,  and  corresponds  to  the  practice  of  the 
best  and  purest  of  Italy’s  “ old  masters.” 

The  succeeding  poetical  picture  of  moonlit  reverie 
is  also  a favorite  one  of  Japanese  sketch-books. 

“ Over  wood  and  over  lea 
Sheds  the  moon  her  pallid  light ; 

High  o’er  drifting  clouds  exalted 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


123 


In  autumnal  radiance, 

As  I watch  the  changing  shadows, 

Sadness  slowly  o’er  me  steals.” 

How  wild  blossoms  in  spring-time  are  gladly  wel- 
comed, let  these  lines,  with  their  pathetic  refrain 
delectably  witness ! 

* “ Should  the  mountain  cherry  cease 

In  the  spring-time  of  the  year, 

With  its  mass  of  new-born  bloom, 

Mortal  men  to  cheer;  also, 

Would  the  heart  of  spring  be  gone, 

And  its  brightness  fade  away.” 

And  again  — 

“ How  slowly  roll  the  mists 
Off  Miyoshino’s  hill-side 
Hiding  still  from  our  longing  eye 
All  the  blooming  wild-cherry  flowers  ! 

“ The  dark-massed  shadows  flecked, 

By  the  mountain’s  cherry  bloom.” 

The  sincerity  and  simplicity  of  these  compositions, 
the  yearning  for  what  is  most  aesthetically  The  seasons 
poetic  in  nature,  and  the  paucity  of  technical  ln  poetry‘ 
means  by  which  they  express  varied  emotions  and 
facts  are  alike  remarkable,  and  afford  a pleasant  con- 
trast to  the  excessive  sentimentality  and  overstrained 
composition  of  much  of  our  modern  poetry.  The 
Japanese,  too,  are  as  appreciatory  of  “ red  tints  of 
mountain  maples  giving  a ruddy  glow  to  autumn 
woods,”  as  the  most  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Ameri- 
ca’s autumnal  tints,  and  never  weary  of  portraying 
the  brilliant  colors  of  the  dying  forest  leaf,  or  sighing 
over  the  dying  year. 

“ Men  may  at  this  cheerless  time 
Gaze  on  autumn’s  ruddy  tints 
Through  the  streams  of  falling  rain.” 

u The  wild  duck’s  mournful  scream 
Piercing  the  distant  sky 
Faintly  echoes  in  his  ear,”  etc. 


124  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


The  depression  produced  by  the  departure  of  what 
made  up  their  naturalistic  joy  in  the  full  bloom  of 
nature,  turns  to  gladsome  strains  in  its  reawakening 
and  young  growth  when  winter  is  gone. 

“ The  hearts  of  men  are  glad. 

’Tis  the  happy  month  of  Growth  — 

And  the  slopes  of  all  the  valleys, 

Hidden  as  by  fleecy  clouds, 

Gleam  with  snowy  Sakura  bloom,”  etc. 

How  the  pure  taste  and  absolute  naturalness  of 
Japanese  poetry  are  transmitted  with  a correspond- 
ing zest  and  pertinency  into  the  decorative  art  of  the 
country,  I shall  show  in  subsequent  chapters.  Mean- 
while let  us  listen  to  their  more  melancholy  strains 
stubborn  verse,  illustrative  of  a stubborn  material- 
matenaiism.  jsm  which  refuses  to  be  comforted  even  while 
yearning  for  immortality,  and  yet  profoundly  appre- 
ciating the  better  side  of  nature,  and,  as  it  were,  un- 
consciously admitting  a God  and  a hope  from  out  of 
the  very  depths  of  unhappiness  because  seeing  none. 

“ Heaven  above  from  earth  below 
Long  ago  the  God  hath  parted. 

(His)  vast  abode  thus  ne’er 
Hath  the  utter  darkness  known 
Of  Primeval  Chaos,”  etc. 

“ Colors  and  fragance  vanish  — 

In  our  world  nothing  is  permanent  — 

To-day  disappears  in  the  deep  abyss  of  nothing  — 

It  is  the  frail  image  of  a dream  — 

It  causes  not  the  slightest  trouble.” 

A more  low-toned  resumd  of  life  was  never  de- 
piaintive  picted  than  in  this  “ Uta,”  a song  resembling 
“uta  ” the  “ Stornello,”  of  Italy.  Its  plaintiveness 
is  soul-haunting. 

“ When  the  end  of  things  shall  come, 

And  the  troublous  world  shall  cease, 

Shall  not  men  be  glad  at  heart, 


LITERATURE  AND  POETRY. 


125 


Hail  the  term  of  their  unrest ; 

For  ’tis  a world  of  misery, 

Ever  evil  are  the  times, 

As  to  man’s  benevolence 
As  to  human  sympathy  — 

Momentary  joys  are  they, 

In  an  age  of  bitter  pains; 

Fleeting  as  the  passing  water 
Left  by  yonder  skiff  impelled 
By  some  early  fisher-boy, 

O’er  the  bay  at  break  of  dawn. 

Is  this  world  a vanishing  dream, 

Or  a sad  reality  ? 

Vain  the  question  ; never  may 
Mortal  mau  the  answer  say.” 

The  great  Hebrew  doubter  and  pessimist  is  here 
beaten  on  his  own  ground,  and  44  all  is  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit  ” reechoed  from  the  farthest  ex- 
tremity of  the  inhabited  globe,  in  not  less  eloquent 
and  touching  phrase  than  his  own  ear-piercing 
strains. 

Professor  A.  Severini  of  the  44  Istituto  Superiore  ” of 
Florence,  has  recently  translated  into  Italian  <<Menand 
Tane  Hico’s  novelette  of  44  Riu-Tei,”  or 44  Men  a 

and  Screens,”  first  published  by  its  author  in  novel* 
Japan,  A.  D.  1821.  I cannot  more  forcibly  finish  this 
chapter  than  by  extracting  some  characteristic  lugu- 
brious verses  as  sung  by  an  unknown  voice  in  one  of 
its  scenes. 

“Della  vita  mortal  che  mai  t’avanza? 

Tenebra  e nulla  piu. 

Corre  l’uomo  alia  morte  : una  sembianza 
Vorresti  aveme  tu  ? 

Fingi  al  guardo  una  via  che  da  un  deserto 
In  un  deserto  muor : 

Via  buja,  angusta,  che  dal  passo  incerto 
Ti  smunge  ogni  vigor.” 

“ Sogno  e di  sogno,  miserabil  cosa 
La  vita  ! e vuoi  saper 

Quant’  ella  sia  ? Mentre  ad  un  ciel  di  rosa 
Del  giorno  messagger, 


126  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Gia  si  diffuse  a suon  di  squilla  o canto, 

L’  eco  stessa  che  muor 
Del  suon  di  questa  vita  appena  e quanto 
A udir  ti  resta  ancor.” 

Literally  and  imperfectly  rendered  : “ What  remains 
of  mortal  life  but  shadows  and  nothing  more.  Man 
runs  to  his  death.  Wouldst  thou  have  a likeness  of 
it?  Imagine  a road  which,  coming  from  a desert, 
in  a desert  dies.  A road  dark,  painful,  that  by  its 
uncertain  course  exhausts  all  strength. 

“ Dream  of  a dream ; wretched  thing  is  Life.  Do 
you  wish  to  know  what  it  is  ? Even  whilst  the  rosy 
tint  of  heaven,  messenger  of  the  coming  day,  diffuses 
itself  to  the  notes  of  the  little  bells  or  songs,  the  echo 
itself  of  the  very  sound  of  this  life  dies  away  before 
you  can  scarcely  hear  it.” 

Fortunately  for  humanity,  few  hearts  anywhere  beat 
time  to  this  wilting  apprehension  of  life  ; but  it  is  a 
psychological  phenomenon  that  inevitably  is  born  of 
the  first  stages  of  mortal  conflict  between  faith  and 
reason,  and  although  so  far  in  human  history  there 
has  not  been  found  a satisfactory  solution  or  sufficient 
counterpoise,  we  need  not  despair  finally  of  answer- 
ing the  question,  “ What  is  Life  ?”  in  a far  more  en- 
couraging manner. 


SECTION  IV. 


THE  CONDITIONS  OF  LIFE  OF  THE  JAPANESE 
ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK. 

If  the  soil  and  climate  of  Japan  were  as  favorable 
to  a prolific  vegetation,  supporting  human 
life  under  easy  conditions  as  to  food,  shelter,  mate  of 
and  clothing,  as  are  some  of  the  picturesque  Japan‘ 
groups  of  islands  in  Polynesia,  we  might  be  less  sur- 
prised to  find  so  much  attention  given  and  enjoyment 
received  from  the  aesthetic  side  of  nature  and  the 
minor  arts  whose  motives  spring  directly  from  it. 
But  J apan  is  a land  of  great  extremes  of  temperature, 
atmospherical  vicissitudes,  and  diversities  of  soil,  not 
to  mention  those  frightful  earthquakes  and  typhoons 
which  periodically  lay  waste  its  fairest  sites  of  indus- 
try, and  cause  a destruction  of  life  and  property  else- 
where unparalleled  unless  we  except  the  opposite 
coasts  of  China. 

Extending  over  sixteen  degrees  of  latitude,  from 
30°  to  46°  north,  very  mountainous  and  vol-  Itg  physical 
canic,  underlain  by  subterraneous  fires  and  features* 
percolated  with  hot  streams,  broken  up  into  innumer- 
able fragments  of  land  small  and  great,  sparkling  with 
running  waters  and  crystal  lakes  embosomed  in  ver- 
dant hills,  divided  into  vast  irregular  sections  and 
promontories  by  many  inland  seas  and  wholly  sur- 
rounded by  the  vast  Pacific  Ocean,  although  possess- 
ing certain  meteorological  and  climatic  conditions  very 


128  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


favorable  to  man,  Japan  demands  of  him  also  unre- 
mitting labor  to  subsist  and  resist  the  destroying 
agencies  which  go  with  them.  Hence,  these  islanders 
were  always  under  a twofold  stimulus  to  the  health- 
ful action  of  all  their  faculties,  although  their  lives 
were  based  on  what  the  more  ambitious  Aryan  races 
might  consider  a somewhat  scanty  standard  of  mate- 
rial needs  and  intellectual  development.  But  so  far 
as  it  went  it  was  thorough  and  good,  and  as  it  proved, 
competent  to  .make  them  happy  and  prosperous,  with 
sufficient  mental  and  aesthetic  activity  to  give  them 
a substantial  superiority  in  some  of  the  essentials  of 
life  over  Europeans.  A manifold  nature,  alternating 
from  the  sublime  to  the  exquisite,  with  infinite  beauty 
of  detail  and  forcible  contrasts,  ever  pleasurably  in- 
vigorated minds  keenly  sensitive  to  its  charms,  whilst 
amply  providing  abundant  harvests  for  their  simple 
diet,  and  supplying  them  with  every  requisite  motive 
and  material  for  the  full  exercise  of  their  artistic  pro- 
clivities. 

Until  the  recent  political  changes  the  people  had 
lived  contentedly  under  a mixed  feudal 
temand8ys  and  patriarchal  regime  which  although  it  di- 
peasantry. them  into  sharply-defined  classes  with 

distinct  duties,  occupation^,  customs,  and  privileges, 
worked  harmoniously  on  the  whole,  and  maintained  a 
general  well-being  that  left  the  masses  nothing  to  envy 
elsewhere,  if  we  estimate  the  value  of  life  by  its  cer- 
tainty of  daily  food,  freedom  from  harassing  servitudes 
and  over- toil,  and  a cheerful  acquiescence  in  existing 
things ; even  if  its  .religions  held  out  no  very  cheer- 
ful views  of  individual  consciousness  and  bliss  in  a 
future  life.  True,  all  the  land  belonged  to  the  Impe- 
rial Government  and  was  held  in  martial  fief  by  the 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK . 129 


grand  Daimios,  or  feudal  princes,  who  rented  it  out  to 
their  literary  and  military  retainers,  the  Samurai,  — 
a class  of  local  aristocracy  which  filled  the  provincial 
offices,  did  police  duty  and  monopolized  the  fighting,  — 
and  to  wealthy  contractors.  In  turn  these  sublet  to 
the  petty  farmers  who  paid  their  rents  in  kind,  as  is 
still  the  practice  in  Tuscany,  only  the  Italian  conta- 
dino  is  very  apt  to  get  the  better  of  his  landlord  in 
the  division  of  their  joint  harvest.  If  his  Japanese 
brother  were  more  honest  or  less  shrewd,  he  had  his 
compensation  in  the  obligation  of  his  landlord  or 
feudal  chief  in  times  of  scarcity  to  feed  him  out  of  the 
public  crib  he  had  helped  fill  in  seasons  of  plenty ; a 
cooperative  principle  of  practical  merit,  under  what- 
ever paternal  system  of  government. 

Little  was  spent  by  any  class  in  our  so-called  nec- 
essaries of  life,  which  to  all  were  superflu-  Necessaries 
ities  not  worth  the  coveting.  Indeed,  there  JuttKf" 
were  few  household  effects  to  catalogue  in  llfe> 
the  Japanese  domestic  circles  outside  of  their  sump- 
tuous but  not  numerous  full-dress  toilettes,  nor  any- 
thing to  give  anxious  parents  a moment’s  anxiety 
regarding  the  dots  of  their  marriageable  daughters. 
Meat,  rich  and  varied  furniture,  jewels,  upholstery, 
equipages,  dear  viands  and  wines,  periodical  changes 
of  fashions,  expensive  pews,  more  expensive  schooling 
and  costly  political  elections,  were  among  those  things 
which  were  not  to  them  ; a deficiency  that  left  what- 
ever surplus  of  earnings  and  income  to  be  bestowed 
on  the  luxuries,  as  we  miscall  them,  of  a family  ; in 
other  words,  those  artistic  objects  and  rural  and 
aesthetic  pleasures  which  figure  so  extensively  in  every 
well-to-do  Japanese  household. 

Food,  chiefly  rice  and  fish ; clothing,  chiefly  silk 
9 


130  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


or  paper ; the  metals,  minerals,  and  woods  they  used, 
the  books  they  read,  and  whatever  else  was 

Values  of  . J ’ 

gold  and  required  — little  enough  it  was  — one  and 
all  were  inexpensive  and  abundant.  Even 
gold  was  only  four  times  the  value  of  silver,  and 
small  account  made  of  it,  except  in  ornamentation, 
for  which  it  was,  as  is  proper,  lavishly  used  as  being 
the  purest  and  most  precious  of  substances,  the  most 
enduring,  and  therefore  the  most  fitting  materially 
and  in  significance  to  be  employed  in  the  service  of 
beauty. 

Although  wages  were  infinitesimally  low,  they  suf- 
Wagcs  and  heed  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  family, 
gains.  Shop-keeping  gains  were  on  a like  diminu- 
tive scale.  Not  even  the  native  Plutuses  were  per- 
mitted to  be  extravagant  in  garments  or  living.  No 
class  could  go  beyond  its  prescribed  sumptuary  bound- 
aries. Yet  all  fitted  together  in  brilliant  and  forcible 
contrast,  or  delicate  gradations  of  designs  and  color- 
ing, like  one  of  their  own  inimitable  straw-mosaics, 
or  harmonious  combinations  of  multifarious  materials 
in  best  lacquer  work.  I do  not  assert  that  this  is  the 
best  possible  type  of  a human  society.  Far  from  it ! 
But  it  had  some  positive  merits  of  organization  and 
performance  which  we  need  not  gainsay. 

The  too  tightly  drawn  lines  of  castes,  especially 
the  military,  as  might  be  expected,  engen- 

Castes  arts  ^ 7 ^ 1 7 o 

trades,’ etc.,’  dered  some  conspicuous  evils,  as  did  also 

descend  by  . x . 

inheritance  the  principle  of  confining  certain  trades, 
arts,  offices,  occupations,  etc.,  to  distinct 
classes  by  inheritance.  This  law  favored  skill  and 
continued  perfection  within  defined  limits,  sustained 
the  thoroughness  and  nicety  of  all  artisan  work, 
helped  the  growth  and  conservation  of  a fine  taste, 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  131 


prompted  a healthful  pride,  and  fostered  a steady- 
habit  of  keeping  customs  and  things  up  to  their 
highest  standards  of  excellence;  all  which  was  ex- 
tremely beneficial,  as  is  demonstrable  by  the  material 
results  of  their  several  industries.  Nevertheless,  it 
hindered  a universal  progress,  and  often  prevented 
the  selection  of  the  fittest  talent  for  a special  work 
or  office.  Society  became  securely  anchored  in  a 
well-sheltered  roadstead  without  doubt;  but  it  was 
at  the  expense  of  the  accumulation  of  many  barna- 
cles on  the  bottoms  of  its  vessels,  which  the  rougher 
waves  of  an  open  ocean  would  have  prevented,  much 
to  the  advantage  of  their  sailing  qualities.  Individual 
development  was  subordinated  to  the  conveniences  of 
a system  or  transmitted  privilege,  whether  deserving 
or  not.  As  things  are,  so  must  they  be,  is  a seduc- 
tive maxim  to  those  who  rule  in  virtue  of  it,  and  are 
born  to  the  prizes  of  life ; but  rather  hard  on  those 
capable  of  winning  some  for  themselves,  but  are  for- 
bidden, lest  they  disturb  those  in  possession,  even  if 
no  longer  qualified  for  society’s  trust.  There  is  some- 
what to  be  said  on  both  sides.  As  the  Japanese  after 
a long  trial  of  the  one  system  have  gone  over  to  the 
other  extreme,  we  have  only  to  wait  and  see  how  it 
will  answer  in  their  case.  It  cannot  but  be  servicea- 
ble in  extinguishing  the  swaggering  Samurai ; which 
caste,  not  finding  a congenial  employment  after  the 
downfall  of  their  feudal  lords,  was  wont  to  vent  its 
surplus  combativeness  in  home-bullying  and  violence. 
A change  which  converts  a ferocious  or  selfish  egoist 
into  a useful  citizen  is  a gain  to  any  community. 

But  brutality  and  folly  were  not  the  rule  of  the 
privileged  classes  in  Japan.  The  current  Deportment 
deportment  of  the  various  social  strata,  classes. 


132  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


among  the  higher  classes,  was  elaborated  into  a punc- 
tilious courtesy  which  won  for  them  the  reputation  of 
being  the  most  polite  of  all  aristocracies  anywhere. 
Their  suavity  and  stateliness  by  degrees  interpene- 
trated all  the  inferior  orders,  developing  a polished 
decorum,  and  an  elaborate  etiquette  gracefully  car- 
ried out,  conducive  to  the  general  amenity  of  man- 
ners and  interchanges  of  kindliness,  often  to  the  ab- 
solute devotion,  even  to  death,  of  the  retainer  to  his 
lord,  that  all  foreigners  who  have  had  free  intercourse 
with  the  various  classes  have  pleasurably  remarked. 

Indeed,  ceremonial  politeness  obtains  to  such  a 
Etiquette  at  degree,  that  it  acquires  at  times  almost  a 
dons  oTthe  touch  of  grim  humor.  When  a noble  is  to 
nobles.  suffer  death,  the  executioners  are  selected 
from  his  own  family  and  retainers,  that  he  may  not 
be  soiled  by  impure  hands.  The  persons  chosen  are 
those  most  friendly  to  him,  and  are  called  his  “ guar- 
dians,” or  “ seconds,”  as  if  their  appointment  con- 
cerned his  deepest  interests  and  honor.  With  a po- 
lite irony,  as  we  should  consider  it  and  beg  to  have 
omitted  on  such  an  occasion,  they  address  the  noble 
criminal,  often  their  most  intimate  friend,  or  nearest 
relative,  in  such  words  as  these  : “ Sir,  we  have  been 
appointed  to  act  as  your  seconds  ; we  pray  you  set 
your  mind  at  rest.”  Then  the  one  who  is  elected  to 
give  the  fatal  stroke,  adds,  u As  I am  to  have  the 
honor  of  being  your  chief  second,  I would  fain  bor- 
row your  sword  for  the  occasion.  It  may  be  a con- 
solation to  you  to  perish  by  your  own  sword,  with 
which  you  are  familiar.”  As  the  last  moment  ap- 
proaches, perhaps  adding  with  a crowning  courtesy, 
“ Sir,  your  final  minute  has  arrived  ; be  so  good  as  to 
turn  your  cheek,  so  that  your  head  may  be  in  the 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  133 


right  position,”  which  words  were  actually  said  to  a 
councillor  of  Prince  Katd,  on  his  recent  execution. 

The  punctilious  self-control  and  fine  bearing  of 
the  victims  are  worthy  of  their  aristocratic  births 
and  breeding.  In  inflicting  on  themselves  the  death- 
penalty  of  hara-kiri , which  they  have  at  times  the 
option  of  doing  before  a select  circle  of  witnesses,  they 
show  the  same  formal  serenity  and,  one  cannot  say 
contempt  of  death  like  the  savage  at  the  stake,  but 
calm  resignation  to  their  destiny,  and  a triumph  over 
physical  suffering  equal  to  a martyr’s,  accompanied 
with  exquisite  courtesy  of  speech  and  gesture  to  the 
last  breath,  solicitous  only,  like  the  great  Caesar,  to 
die  with  decency,  as  befits  their  rank  or  culture.  As 
the  hara-kiri  consists  in  plunging  his  own 

^ ® Hara-kiri. 

broad-bladed  dirk  into  his  bowels  and 
twisting  it  about,  making  a frightful  wound  before 
the  friendly  second  is  permitted  to  cut  off  his  head, 
the  condemned  person  must  require  no  small  amount 
of  nerve  as  well  as  good-breeding  to  perform  the  oper- 
ation with  the  dignity  and  calmness  expected  of  him. 
But  even  in  the  late  instance  of  Tuki-Zenzaburd,  the 
petty  officer  executed  by  order  of  the  Mikado  in  the 
presence  of  the  foreign  legations  for  an  attack  on 
some  of  their  people,  with  an  unmoved  countenance 
he  made  those  present  a profound  bow,  saying  “ For 
my  crime,  I now  disembowel  myself,  and  I beg  you 
all  to  do  me  the  honor  of  witnessing  the  act,”  as  he 
struck  the  dagger  firmly  home  and  cut  himself  open. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  fine  manners  diversely  em- 
phasized according  to  ranks  and  conditions, 

_ ill  . . Fine  man- 

graceiul  and  elaborate  m highest  society,  ners,  causes 

. . . . . . J and  effects. 

simple  and  winning  in  lower,  as  a general 

rule  characterize  peoples  who  have  a genuine  feeling 


134  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


for  whatever  is  artistic  and  beautiful.  This  disposi- 
tion seems  to  exercise  a reflex  influence  on  all  the 
faculties,  by  putting  the  entire  soul  in  sympathy  with 
the  refinement  and  aesthetic  culture  that  comes  of  a 
devotion  to  true  art.  The  inhabitants  of  Japan  for 
ever  so  many  centuries  have  allowed  free  rein  to  this 
subtle  psychological  principle  under  the  guidance  of 
an  orderly  civilization,  especially  adapted  to  keep  it 
alive  and  fully  develop  its  forces.  Much,  if  not  all 
that  is  comprehended  under  the  term  fine  manners  as 
personal  deportment,  seems  to  coincide  with  a mature 
art-culture  in  any  people,  and  to  diminish  as  they 
grow  indifferent  to  it.  Baron  Richthofen,  in  his  trav- 
els in  China,  writing  of  the  people  of  Syr-chwan,  an 
inland  province,  says  they  are  “ the  most  gentle  and 
amiable  in  character,  and  the  most  refined  in  man- 
ners ” of  all  the  Empire.  Speaking  of  the  capital, 
one  of  its  largest  cities,  he  adds,  “ nowhere  in  China 
is  art  valued  by  the  present  generation  as  high  as 
in  Ching-tu-fu.  All  tea-houses,  inns,  shops,  private 
dwellings,  have  their  walls  covered  with  pictures, 
many  of  them  reminding  one  of  the  Japanese  ink 
and  water-color  drawings  in  point  of  artistic  touch. 
No  traveller  can  help  being  struck  with  the  great 
artistic  perfection  of  the  triumphal  arches,  worked  in 
red  sandstone,  which  abound  in  the  country.  They 
are  covered  with  sculptures  in  high  and  low  relief, 
representing  scenes  of  mythical  or  every-day  life, 
mostly  with  a tinge  of  the  humorous.  Some  of  them 
are  masterpieces  of  Chinese  art.  In  no  respect  is 
the  refinement  more  perceptible  than  in  the  polished 
manners  and  gentle  behavior  of  the  people,  in  regard 
to  which  the  inhabitants  of  Ching-tu-fu  are  ahead  of 
the  rest  of  China.” 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  IIIS  WORK . 135 


Similar  causes  tend  to  like  results  everywhere. 
But  I do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  saying  that  all 
art  tends  to  produce  fine  manners  by  any  means.  If 
art  is  insincere  in  itself,  low  in  motive,  or  Lowart 
partakes  of  any  of  the  infirmities  of  base  ^^Jslow 
passions  and  mean  egoisms  of  any  sort,  its  andhablts- 
tendency  is  to  the  destruction  of  whatever  is  genuinely 
fine  in  manners  and  character.  It  then  becomes  an 
instigator  and  diffuser  of  evil  thoughts  and  associa- 
tions, and  familiarizes  the  eye  with  low  types  of  every 
species.  Consequently  the  taste  becomes  perverted, 
impure,  and  even  impish,  delighting  in  cruelty,  extrava- 
gance, and  things  abnormal  in  crookedness  and  perver- 
sity of  mind  and  manners,  and  uglinesses  in  general, 
personal  deportment  being  no  exception.  The  “ ro- 
coco ” bestialisms,  inanities,  and  distortions,  evince 
this  phase  of  art  as  Dutch  sensualisms  do  its  coarseness 
and  abasement  in  another,  while  absolute  material- 
isms of  every  kind  are  a moral  and  intellectual  dead- 
weight to  art  in  any  refining  and  spiritual  sense.  But 
whenever  art  is  characteristic  of  an  entire  people  and 
strikes  its  roots  deep  into  their  better  dispositions,  tak- 
ing its  motives  from  the  purer  aspirations  and  in- 
stincts of  humanity,  aiming  first  to  establish  itself  in 
those  heaven-fed  truths  which  are  the  birth-right  of 
all  men  and  nature,  and  to  clothe  them  with  beauty,  if 
we  do  not  barter  them  away  for  a mess  of  porridge  as 
simple  Esau  did  his  birthright,  then  art  cannot  fail 
to  express  the  same  beneficent  influence  over  mind 
and  manners  that  it  did  in  Japan,  Italy,  and  Greece. 

This  too  all  the  more,  if  noble  families,  imitating 
the  example  of  the  Dukes  of  Urbino  in  per-  Japanese 
fecting  majolica,  encourage  the  progress  of  colTrageTrt 
the  minor  arts,  less  for  profit  than  as  insig-  ftnd  practlce 


136  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


ma  of  aristocratic  culture  and  gifts  beyond  price  to 
princes,  and  standards  of  perfection  in  their  various 
branches.  Not  only  did  the  Japanese  nobles  thus 
sustain  art,  but  they  further  made  it  fashionable  by 
their  personal  knowledge  and  practice.  The  most 
exquisite  bit  of  inlaid  ivory  lacquer-work  I have  ever 
seen,  a cabinet  with  lovely  compositions  of  birds  and 
insects  and  scenery  on  the  panels,  is  said  to  be  the 
joint  work  of  several  princes,  brothers,  who  lived  two 
centuries  ago,  and  was  kept  as  an  heir-loom  until  it 
fell  into  profane  hands  during  the  recent  civil  war. 

The  best  epochs  of  Japanese  art  correspond  appar- 
ently with  the  European.  At  all  events, 
of  Japanese  there  is  a generic  likeness,  varied  oi  course 
by  the  specific  tastes  and  resources  of  the 
former  people,  to  the  successive  art-waves  which  have 
passed  over  Europe.  Perhaps  it  would  be  more  exact 
to  divide  the  periods  of  Japan  into  two  great  ones, 
answering  to  our  religious  and  naturalistic  phases. 
The  first  is  contemporary  with  the  ancient  dynasty  of 
the  Mikados ; the  second  corresponds  to  our  Renais- 
sance, and  is  more  identified  with  the  Shogoons  on 
their  accession  to  the  executive  authority,  but  has  less 
of  the  rocoeo  spirit  that  grew  up  with  its  fortunes  in 
Europe.  The  virgin  freshness  of  both  schools,  per- 
petuated through  so  many  centuries,  is  largely  due  to 
the  habits  of  the  artisan  and  the  sovereign  instincts  of 
the  people  in  their  devotion  to  nature. 

The  workman  was  a thorough  worker  and  master 
The  work-  °f  particular  art,  content  with  nothing 
ough faster  short  of  absolute  technical  perfection,  aes- 
of  his  art.  the  tic  and  material,  in  every  object  he  un- 

dertook, whether  it  was  cheap  or  valuable.  Usually, 
he  labored  by  himself,  in  his  own  cottage,  or  else  with 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  137 


sympathetic  associates  on  such  branches  of  art  as  had 
been  slowly  perfected  by  many  generations  of  his  an- 
cestors under  the  fostering  care  of  their  feudal  lords. 
Thus  he  was  born  both  to  pride  and  skill  in  his  work. 
There  was  a marked  contrast,  involving  a fathomless 
aesthetic  gulf  between  him  and  the  average  Euro- 
pean artisan,  doomed  to  monotonous  uninspiring  toil, 
herded  with  his  fellows  in  unwholesome  factories  or 
the  filthy  purlieus  of  crowded  cities.  The  nature  too 
of  his  task  was  akin  to  his  tastes  and  a source  of  hap- 
piness to  all  concerned.  Besides  the  domestic  satis- 
faction of  being  always  at  home  in  a congenial  circle 
of  qualified  critics  and  co-laborers,  his  own  spirit  un- 
consciously imbibed  in  more  or  less  degree  some  of  the 
purity,  poetry,  and  refinements  of  the  motives  which 
actuated  his  art.  These  in  general  were  derived  from 
the  ever  bountiful  landscape,  which  was  always  an 
unfailing  spring  of  pleasure  to  his  easily  contented 
household,  or  from  the  pictorial  literature  which  em- 
bodied the  myths,  romances,  traditions,  and  history  of 
his  native  land,  whose  “great  peace  ” in  this  manner 
interpenetrated  his  inmost  being.  It  is  no  matter  of 
surprise  that  he  left  his  work  with  reluctance,  re- 
turned to  it  with  zest  to  perfect  it,  and  was  always 
diligent  without  thinking  of  how  much  he  was  to  gain 
by  it,  or  what  the  newspapers  would  say  of 
him.  The  pay  was  at  the  best  a mere  pit-  worked  and 
tance.  Sometimes  he  was  lodged,  fed,  and  hls 
received  monthly  wages  equal  to  from  three  to  six  dol- 
lars of  our  money.  The  same  system  and  lowness  of 
gage  once  obtained  in  mediaeval  Europe,  producing 
the  best  work,  even  when  artists  were  put  on  the  same 
social  footing  as  common  mechanics  and  day-laborers. 
The  working  architects  especially,  master-masons  we 


138  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


term  them  now,  built  up  the  best  architecture  of  the 
time,  step  by  step  as  they  went  on  with  their  work, 
qualifying  themselves  in  every  part,  and  thus  making 
an  aesthetic  unity  of  the  structure  and  its  uses,  as  orig- 
inal as  it  was  appropriate, — economically  done  also. 
But  we  have  changed  all  this,  as  we  are  fast  obliter- 
ating the  ancient  Japanese  artisan  and  turning  him 
into  a machine-laborer,  prompt  to  begin  and  end  on  the 
minute,  to  run  on  time,  caring  only  for  his  pay,  care- 
less of  what  he  does,  as  well  he  must  be,  for  there  is 
no  soul  in  what  is  required  of  him. 

But  our  workman  was  free  to  work  when  he  felt  in 
the  mood  to  do  justice  to  his  object,  and 
ami  variety  equally  free  to  seek  repose  the  instant  fatigue 
notified  him  of  failing  powers.  By  no  other 
system  could  he  have  attained  to  such  uniform  perfec- 
tion and  infinite  variety  in  his  work  as  he  shows  in 
everything  which  can  be  classed  under  the  head  of  a 
fine  art.  The  absolute  excellence,  rare  invention, 
pure  taste,  accurate  finish,  entire  adaptability  of  each 
article  to  its  destined  use,  besides  its  superimposed, 
harmonious,  aesthetic  cachet,  beauty  combined  with 
the  cleanness  and  neatness  that  is  next  to  godliness, 
infiltrating  every  fibre  of  an  object,  all  this  make  up 
a veritable  music  for  the  eye,  even  in  those  cheap  ar- 
ticles which  are  destined  for  the  multitude.  Each 
is  perfect,  novel,  and  idiosyncratic  ; no  more  like  its 
neighbor  than  one  man  of  spirit  is  the  tame  repeti- 
tion of  another  man. 

We  must  not  confound  the  tawdry,  frail,  meaning- 
less articles  made  to  order  for  foreign  markets  with 
those  begotten  of  the  old  regime.  Until  to-day,  one 
may  say,  industrial  and  social  science,  fettered  to  a 
purely  mercenary  commerce,  had  no  weight  in  Japan. 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  139 


Its  art  got  at  its  results  in  its  own  free,  off-hand  way. 
We  have  seen  how  the  old  Japanese  lived  as  a people 
without  being  in  bondage  to  any  system  of  superflu- 
ous wants.  Yet  although  uncaring  for  furniture  in 
our  sense  of  it,  they  required  of  each  article,  however 
common,  that  it  should  in  some  way  be  so  constructed 
as  to  strike  the  senses  with  its  elegance  or  beauty 
as  the  first,  and  always  the  most  obvious  sen-  Beauty  the 
sation.  Convenience  was  a secondary,  but  chiefaim- 
not  neglected  object ; for  the  Japanese  artisan  beats 
us  here  whenever  he  chooses  or  has  occasion  to  come 
into  competition  with  our  useful  articles.  The  me- 
chanical perfection  of  Japanese  carpentry,  metal  work, 
papers,  leather,  in  short  whatever  they  manufacture, 
from  a mammoth  bell  down  to  a box-hinge  or  hair 
pin,  is  quite  as  conspicuous  to  the  eye  of  a mechanic 
as  are  the  aesthetic  features  of  objects  of  art  to  an 
artist's  senses. 

Nevertheless,  they  preferred  to  amass  artistic  treas- 
ures ; things  and  ideas  to  beguile  the  mind  ut.Hty  a 
from  over-much  dwelling  on  the  utilitarian  subordinate 

° feature  to 

side  of  life.  It  is  not  wonderful,  therefore,  the  aesthetic, 

...  . . but  not 

that  in  the  superior  enjoyment  these  give,  neglected  or 
they  forgot  to  invent  our  heaps  of  homely 
necessaries  of  existence.  Nor  yet  in  obtaining  sen- 
suous loveliness  and  poetical  feeling  did  they  alto- 
gether neglect  the  higher  instincts  of  the  soul.  Of- 
ten side  by  side  with,  and  interblended,  we  find  the 
most  delicate  art,  subtle  skill  of  handicraft,  and  quaint 
or  practical  lessons  of  life  or  morals.  There  is  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Sutton,  of  New  York,  a tiny,  elon- 
gated vessel  of  the  red  Kagha  porcelain,  in  the  in- 
terior of  which,  so  small  and  inaccessible  as  to  be 
a miracle  of  art,  in  minutest  Chinese  characters  of 


140  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


cobweb  delicacy,  is  the  following  text  explanatory  of 
the  painting  on  the  outside,  of  two  men  standing  by  a 
stream  conversing  and  fanning  themselves  with  assid- 
uous politeness.  As  translated  in  the  “New  York 
Tribune,”  it  reads  as  follows  : — 

44  Kutzen  had  already  taken  his  leave,  and  was  wan- 
a unique  dering  by  the  side  of  the  river,  in  a sorrow- 
vessei.  ful  and  dejected  manner,  when  he  met  a 
fisherman,  who  said,  4 Why  do  you  come  here?  You 
are  the  chief  retainer  of  King  Sa.’  Then  Kutzen 
replied,  4 The  men  of  the  world  are  all  alike,  and  as 
impure  water,  but  I am  pure ; they  are  all  drunk, 
but  I am  sober ; therefore  I came  here.’  Then  the 
fisherman  said,  4 An  ancient  sage  has  said  that  if 
we  mix  and  associate  with  the  men  of  the  world,  we 
shall  become  as  impure  as  they  are  ; if  they  are  all 
drunk  we  shall  be  drunk  also,  and  drink  the  sediment 
of  their  drink  ; if  they  are  dirty,  we  shall  be  dirty 
also,  and  stir  up  the  mud.’  Then  Kutzen  replied,  4 It 
is  an  ancient  saying  that  when  we  dress  our  hair  we 
necessarily  rub  the  dust  off  our  cap  ; when  we  bathe 
in  hot  water,  we  necessarily  shake  the  dust  off  our 
clothes  ; thus,  when  our  hearts  become  pure  we  shake 
off  all  defilement.  I would  rather  throw  myself  into 
the  river  and  become  food  for  the  fishes  than  to  be 
defiled  by  thee  ! ’ Then  the  fisherman  went  away 
smiling,  and  striking  the  gunwale  of  his  boat,  sang  : 
4 So,  when  the  waters  of  Soro  are  clean,  I will  wash 
my  cap-strings  ; when  the  waters  of  Soro  are  dirty, 
I will  wash  my  feet.’  ” 

As  regards  the  strictly  industrial  arts,  the  principle 
of  making  ornament  subordinate  to  use  is  a sound  one. 
The  constructive  form  of  the  object  should  be  care- 
fully adapted  to  its  final  purpose.  If  grace  of  shape 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  141 


and  attractive  color  are  superadded,  these  should  be 
as  accessories  to  commend  it  to  the  taste.  The  Jap- 
anese artisans  understand  this  principle  perfectly  in 
its  minutest  and  humblest  applications.  Even  the 
common  articles  of  necessity  are  made  so  agreeable 
to  the  eye  by  accurate  finish  and  mechanical  ingenu- 
ity, that  it  is  a pleasure  to  use  them,  if  solely  on  ac- 
count of  these  qualities,  as  we  by  force  of 

I J The  con- 

wholesome  affinity  become  fond  of  persons  struetive 

. x soundness  of 

of  an  inferior  social  position  ; however  lg-  common 
norant  and  homely,  it  sound  at  heart  and 
healthy  of  body  we  must  esteem  them.  Common  arti- 
cles in  Japan  are  very  certain  to  be  sound  as  regards 
their  strength,  neatness,  and  utility.  We  can  trust 
them.  But  even  the  meanest  is  quite  sure  to  have 
about  it  some  slight  suggestion  of  ornament,  some 
dainty  touch  of  an  aesthetic  finger  which  gives  it  an 
air  of  good-breeding,  and  like  the  trained  politeness 
of  the  Latin  peasant,  or  the  Japanese,  too,  as  for  that 
matter,  raises  it  to  the  higher  level  of  an  intellec- 
tual as  well  as  material  recognition.  This  comes  of 
the  perfect  knowledge  of  where  utility  ends  and  deco- 
ration begins,  their  reciprocal  virtues  and  duties,  and 
skill  in  uniting  them. 

But  the  mischievous  confounding  of  the  funda- 
mental purposes  and  limitations  of  the  in-  Confound. 
dustrial,  with  the  fine  arts,  is  but  too  com- 
mon  in  Europe  and  almost  universal  in  finearts- 
America.  We  produce  in  consequence  a vast  num- 
ber of  things  incongruous  in  constructive  principles, 
vulgar  in  ornamentation,  garish  in  colors,  and  at  the 
same  time  of  little  poetical  value  ; whilst  those  in- 
tended particularly  to  gratify  taste  are  tortured  out 
of  their  legitimate  forms  by  a futile  desire  to  force 


142  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


them  to  subserve  some  domestic  need.  There  are 
people  who  would  put  nightingales  into  harness  and 
make  lilies  pump  water  if  they  could.  Our  homes 
are  crammed  with  inappropriate  objects,  neither  use- 
ful nor  beautiful.  They  furnish,  or  are  charitably 
supposed  to,  one  may  guess  in  conjecturing  the  cause 
of  their  existence.  But  the  more  furniture,  the  less 
real  comfort  and  satisfaction,  is  the  experience  of  the 
aesthetically  wise  man  in  America.  Money  is  worse 
than  thrown  away  in  heaps  of  uncomfortable  trash, 
frivolous  in  idea,  inane  in  look,  and  every  way  vex- 
ing the  artistic  eye,  without  yielding  any  adequate 
return  to  the  physical  senses.  Paris  and  Vienna  are 
the  chief  centres  of  this  traffic.  Not  only  are  many  of 
their  would-be-tasteful  productions  wrongly  conceived 
structurally,  false  as  regards  the  grammar  of  orna- 
ment, but  meretriciously  ugly.  There  is  displayed  in 
the  greater  numbers  a pitiable  poverty  of  aesthetic 
invention,  especially  in  the  attempts  to  get  at  some- 
thing original  by  departing  from  pure  classical  forms 
developed  on  principles  of  harmonious  curves  founded 
on  subtlest  gradations  of  lines.  But  the 

Radical  de-  & 

fectsof  radical  defects  ot  European  ornamentation 
omamenta-  are  more  vividly  shown  by  placing  it  beside 
the  Japanese.  Any  fair  collection  of  Jap- 
anese decorative  art  makes  the  average  European  look 
distorted,  pretentious,  or  pitiful.  What  once  in  the 
latter  seemed  true  and  tasteful  to  us,  now  sinks  to 
its  rightful  level  and  appears  crude  and  inharmonious, 
besides  showing  more  or  less  defective  workmanship. 
There  may  be  fineness  of  material  texture,  superb 
polish,  showy  coloring,  and  fair  academic  design,  and 
very  likely  a certain  prettiness  of  composition  and 
dainty  manipulation  ; but  as  an  entirety,  the  articles 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  143 


will  lack  a correct  style  and  true  method  of  deco- 
ration, a style  and  method  by  which  the  substance 
itself,  its  technical  and  scientific  treatment,  its  mod- 
eling, painting,  or  whatever  else  is  done  to  anoint  it 
with  beauty,  are  aesthetically  combined  into  a harmo- 
nious unity,  every  detail  living  for  itself  in 

i 5 J Epitome  of 

virtue  of  its  own  laws  of  being,  and  yet  character  of 

• i • , iii  ° J best  Japan- 

nicely  adi  listed  and  balanced  in  reference  to  eseart- 

«/  v work. 

the  whole  thing,  and  causing  the  spectator 
to  forget  the  dextrous  handicraft  and  the  delicately 
trained  perceptions  of  the  workman,  in  the  sponta- 
neous pleasure  his  work  evokes,  and  only  to  be  re- 
minded of  his  means,  when  the  mind  is  stimulated 
to  analyze  the  causes  of  its  satisfaction.  Now  this 
is  an  epitome  of  the  character  of  the  best  Japanese 
decorative  art  wThich  our  short-sighted  commerce  is 
ruthlessly  destroying,  aided  by  the  radical  social  and 
political  revolutions  of  the  country  itself.  For  from 
time  immemorial,  contrary  to  European  practice,  but 
rightful  in  the  intellectual  scale,  the  artisan  of  Ja- 
pan had  taken  social  rank  above  the  trader  and  mer- 
chant. The  former  created,  the  latter  simply  sold  ; 
one  made  wealth,  the  other  exchanged  it  on  toll. 
Here,  it  seems  to  me,  the  Japanese  saw  deeper  into 
political  economy  than  we.  At  all  events  he  recog- 
nized the  higher  calls  on  intelligence,  study,  obser- 
vation, imagination,  and  the  emotions,  of  the  artistic 
over  the  commercial  professions,  and  how  great  an 
intellectual  strain  was  placed  on  the  body  and  brain 
of  the  former,  to  keep  up  to  the  standard  of  taste  of 
a population  long  trained  to  enjoy  and  comprehend 
their  best  work. 

European  articles,  not  infrequently,  are  artistic 
without  being  aesthetic.  This  essential  distinction 


144  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


must  not  be  overlooked.  A man  may  draw,  model. 
The  distinc-  and  paint  with  academic  skill,  and  yet  be 
SafSr  without  any  real  appreciation  of  beauty, 
manorofc  So,  too,  the  reverse  holds  equally  good.  He 
may  also  thoroughly  enjoy  and  compre- 
hend the  nature  of  fine  art,  without  any  technical 
knowledge  of  art.  As  a people,  we  Americans  have 
some  slight  experience  and  cleverness  in  the  mechan- 
ical direction  ; but  are  destitute  of  sound  aesthetic 
taste,  and  indeed  feeling,  as  a nation.  The  Euro- 
peans are  fast  becoming  more  artistic  than  aesthetic,  I 
fear.  Ancient  Greek  art  was  the  happiest  union  of 
the  two  that  the  world  has  as  yet  seen.  In  the  sense 
in  which  I am  now  defining  art-work,  the  Japanese 
are  perhaps  even  more  aesthetic  than  artistic.  Evi- 
dently they  seek  in  their  decorative  arts  to  create 
pleasurable  sensations  primarily,  as  does  music,  by 
striking  those  human  chords  whi-ch  are  most  sensitive 
to  delicate,  subtle,  mystical,  or  emotional  impressions. 
I know  intimately  a European  scholar  of  fame,  whose 
time  is  so  occupied  that  he  never  can  look  at  a work 
of  art  unless  his  attention  is  incidentally  called  to  it, 
and  whose  artistic  knowledge  is  absolutely  a cipher. 
Yet  when  he  does  look  at  a good  work  of  any  kind, 
of  any  race,  he  quivers  with  delight  and  most  tersely 
and  truly  interpenetrates  its  spirit,  and  explains  its 
being  with  a sincerity  of  feeling  rare,  even  among 
great  artists.  The  majority  of  artists,  so-called,  I 
have  known,  have  shown  little  or  no  aesthetic  feeling 
or  discrimination,  and  were  unacquainted  with  the 
history  and  arcana  of  their  profession.  The  most  that 
can  be  said  of  such  is  that  they  are  artistic  machines ; 
mere  human  substitutes  for  that  famous  invention 
which  undertakes  to  make  statuary  by  patent  ma- 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  145 


chinery.  Outside  of  their  dry  studio  work,  they 
neither  cared  for  nor  enjoyed  art,  and  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  what  the  true  artists  had  done  or  were 
doing,  except  as  it  might  be  made  a means  of  making 
money  for  themselves,  and  padding  their  own  repu- 
tations. No  genuine  aesthetic  objects,  unless  as  stock 
in  trade,  adorn  their  walls  ; not  an  indication  of  gen- 
uine aesthetic  feeling  ever  escapes  them.  And  it  is 
into  the  cold  cunning  of  this  mercenary,  egoistical 
class,  largely  ignorant  of  culture  of  any  kind,  indeed 
indifferent  to  it,  whose  highest  ambition  is  to  get 
rich  and  famous  by  shamming  a feeling  and  knowl- 
edge it  does  not  possess,  and  which  is  as  destitute  of 
any  real  demonstrative  passion  for  art,  as  its  works 
are  mechanical  and  soulless,  whatever  may  be  their 
degree  of  technical  excellence  honestly  acquired,  or 
surreptitiously  bought,  that  the  destiny  of  much  of 
modern  art  has  fallen.  What  marvel,  therefore, 
that  a low  grade  of  realistic  excellence  now  seems 
to  have  become  the  most  popular  standard  of  art  the 
world  over ! 

In  view  of  this  fact,  we  may  all  the  more  profitably 
dwell  on  the  best  Japanese  examples  of  the  Japane,,e 
happy  combination  of  an  unrivaled  sensi-  lt 

tiveness  and  minutest  delicacy  of  subtlest  eneJe^tinc- 
manipulation,  on  their  directness,  firmness,  tion- 
and  minuteness  of  touch,  stroke,  and  outline,  on  their 
high  and  low  harmonies  and  contrasts  of  color,  on 
their  inventive  daring  and  variety  of  designs  and  com- 
position, their  thorough  and  masterly  hand- work, 
wedded  to  a vivid  truthfulness  of  artistic  and  aesthetic 
characterization,  giving  this  last,  albeit  it  should  have 
the  place  of  honor,  for  it  takes  unconscious  precedence 

over  all  the  rest ; and  we  may  weep  over  their  threat- 
10 


146  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


ened  extinction.  Ever  since  Chinese  art  has  followed 
the  European  mercantile  track  it  has  lost  more  and 
more  of  those  qualities  which  made  it  only  second  in 
interest  to  that  of  Japan.  As  we  now  get  it,  the 
Chinese  bizarre,  extravagant,  exaggerated  degenera- 
its°degener-  tbig  into  positive  ugliness,  want  of  fresh  in- 
acy  vention  and  love  of  nature,  and  an  abundance 

of  diabolism  ; such  are  the  more  obvious  features  of 
what  is  left  of  the  original  art  of  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire, tempered  somewhat  by  lingering  traditions  of 
the  once  matchless,  pure  tints  of  its  porcelains,  but 
really  rejoicing  most  heartily  in  overcoming  mechan- 
ical or  technical  difficulties. 

Kiyoto,  the  sacred  city  of  Japan,  is  the  centre  of 
the  old  art,  as  Tokio,  or  Yedo,  is  of  the  later 
school.  When  we  consider  to  what  extent 
old  and  new  the  negation  of  prosaic  utility  obtains  in 
most  of  their  decorative  art,  their  emphatic 
throwing  overboard  of  serviceableness  whenever 
forced  to  choose  between  it  and  the  loss  of  the  aes- 
thetic principle,  we  must  give  the  palm  of  a high- 
toned  consistency,  as  regards  art,  to  the  Japanese. 
We  are  more  hampered  by  our  mechanical  and  utili- 
tarian tendencies  and  avidity  of  gain.  The  common 
taste  follows  the  grooves  of  trade  and  obeys  its  dic- 
tates, which  directs  it  from  the  noble,  pure,  and  sim- 
ple to  the  pretty,  ingenious,  meretricious,  or  appar- 
ently difficult.  Beauty  is  handcuffed  to  a specious 
political  economy  and  false  social  system.  Rich 
furniture  in  excess  of  any  reasonable  wants  is  the 
tyrannical  necessity  of  household  life.  We  must 
furnish , and  in  the  latest  style,  whether  the  objects 
are  needful,  comfortable,  beautiful,  or  the  reverse. 
Custom  requires  a vain  show  of  upholstery  and 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  14T 


kindred  expenses  transitorily  adjusted  into  passing 
grooves  of  fashions  invented  to  fill  covetous  trades- 
folks’  pockets  with  greater  rapidity  than  any  perma- 
nent, well-founded  taste  would  permit ; to  excite  dis- 
contents and  a passion  for  frequent  changes,  in  which 
the  individual  judgment  or  character  of  the  buyer 
shall  be  subservient  to  the  interests  of  the  vendor, 
and  he  be  frequently  deluded  into  a vain-glorious  re- 
newal of  his  expensive  domestic  fittings ; such  is  the 
tempter,  tyrant,  and  dictator  of  our  aesthetic  faculties 
and  purveyor  of  our  taste.  All  this  might  be  endur- 
able, and  perhaps,  useful,  if  the  workmen  were  free 
artists  as  in  Japan.  But  to  make  art  more  Thctyrauny 
unspeakably  sordid  and  mechanical,  we  man-  fosWoMhl* 
ufacture  a multitude  of  costly,  uniform  ob-  and°fb^J 
jects,  which  are  palmed  off  as  artistic  on  the  r“peandU 
much-abused-by-their-own-consent  public,  Aiuenca* 
and  prepared  by  workmen  each  of  whom  is  a slave 
to  a fraction  of  the  whole  of  a soulless,  mechanically 
conceived,  and  machine-executed  object,  the  perfec- 
tion of  which  consists  in  its  being  produced  in  the 
quickest  and  cheapest  manner,  and  dearly  sold  as  an 
indispensable  portion  of  some  lugubrious  or  awk- 
wardly conceived  piece  of  furniture  which  for  the 
moment  is  dubbed  fashionable.  It  is  utterly  impos- 
sible that  such  objects  should  be  either  artistic  or 
aesthetic,  and  they  are  about  as  poor  an  investment 
for  human  faculties  to  manufacture  and  human  bodies 
to  use  as  can  be  made.  For  they  not  only  stultify 
the  workman,  but  they  debase  invention  and  demor- 
alize taste. 

The  supreme  art-principle,  not  to  copy  nature  lit- 
erally, but  instead  to  render  its  character-  Supremeart 
istic  action  and  expression  more  by  a sug-  Pnnc‘Ple* 


148  A GLTMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


gestion  of  the  particular  fact  than  the  futile  attempt 
to  repeat  its  every  detail,  is  very  perceptible  in  Jap- 
anese work.  In  its  subtile  treatment  the  native 
artist  is  wonderfully  accomplished.  In  every  other 
branch  of  Japanese  art  there  is  somewhat  to  qualify 
eulogium ; but  in  the  purely  decorative,  based  on  their 
perceptions  and  apprehensions  of  nature,  there  is  little 
to  make  exception  at ; nothing,  indeed,  we  may  say, 
as  regards  their  finest  examples.  The  mind  loses  all 
its  captiousness  in  beholding  it,  and  no  more  ques- 
tions its  aesthetic  genuineness  than  the  body  does 
those  rare  sensations  of  complete  health,  when  sim- 
ple being  becomes  a positive  pleasure.  This  species 
of  mental  and  corporeal  beatitude  is  the  result  only 
of  those  art-creations  which  are  so  harmoniously  bal- 
anced in  all  their  features  and  functions  as  to  expend 
their  force  less  in  stimulating  thought  than  in  cheer- 
ing  the  mind  and  putting  it  in  sympathy  with  beauty 
whether  of  art  or  nature.  There  are  persons  who 
take  possession  of  our  spirits  in  the  same  quiet,  inter- 
penetrative way,  and  for  the  moment  fill  us  with 
blissful  consciousness  of  their  own  happy  measure  of 
being,  just  as  others  provoke  discussion,  or  stir  up 
latent  antagonisms.  Now  the  crowning  merit  of  the 
best  Japanese  decorative  art  is  precisely  of  the  former 
kind,  which  is  most  rare  in  all  art. 

The  aesthetic  temperament  of  a nation  is  most 
color  and  subtly  felt  in  its  use  of  color.  Design  is 
refations^nd  more  often  circumscribed  by  particular  exi- 
e fleets.  gencies  of  the  parent  motive  apart  from  the 

purely  artistic.  In  dealing  with  color  the  artist  can 
employ  it  either  as  accessory  to  form,  or  independent 
of  it.  He  has  only  to  consult  its.relations  to  his  ideal 
conception  as  how  best  to  oppose,  balance,  graduate, 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  IIIS  WORK.  149 

subdue,  heighten,  or  tone  its  qualities  in  order  to  pro- 
duce certain  psychological  effects  either  originated  in 
his  mind  or  suggested  by  nature.  The  effects  of 
color,  as  of  music,  in  some  animals  is  conspicuous  and 
not  to  be  always  explained  by  association.  They 
seem  more  of  the  nature  of  direct  causation.  Viewed, 
in  certain  aspects  color  can  be  said  to  respond  to 
mental  conditions,  and  the  manner  of  its  use  or  enjoy- 
ment to  indicate  spiritual,  sensuous,  or  sensual  pro- 
clivities of  thought.  By  itself  each  color  is  negative, 
like  musical  notes,  although  there  are  tones  in  both 
which  conform  to  states  of  mind  and  body.  Purity, 
coldness,  sensuality,  brightness,  or  dullness  of  tints, 
are  significant  terms  co-related  to  mental  and  physi- 
cal human  phenomena.  Their  roots  also  penetrate 
deep  into  the  spiritual  mysteries  of  humanity.  By 
spirituality  in  color  I mean  the  clearness  and  harmo- 
nies of  simple,  unmixed  tints,  as  shown  in  the  sacred 
art  of  Italy  in  its  best  estate,  when  it  portrays  heav- 
enly beings  and  things. 

Europe  passed  from  this  psychological  extreme  to 
absolute  materialism  in  art,  going  through  an  inter- 
mediate colorless  period  and  one  of  barren  intellec- 
tuality. These  phases  represent  extraneous  mental 
forces  rather  than  independent  art-periods.  But  in 
the  Orient  the  use  of  color  seems  always  to  have  been 
coincident  with  a passionate  aesthetic  satisfaction  in 
it  for  its  own  sake,  unchanged  by  time  or  ideas  for- 
eign to  itself.  In  Japan,  specially,  its  aspect  is  that 
of  a distinct,  independent  faculty,  never  soaring  above 
refined  sensuousness,  often  sensually  strong  and  deep, 
most  frequently  extremely  delicate  and  varied  in  its 
harmonies,  in  keeping  with  those  seen  in  the  rich 
material  nature  of  Japan,  and  sometimes  displaying 


150  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  APT  OF  JAPAN. 


a fullness  of  splendor  seldom  equaled  elsewhere.  The 
Orientals  solve  problems  of  color,  which,  with  our  en- 
feebled senses,  we  never  dare  consider.  They  distil, 
as  it  were,  delicate  new  tints  from  nature’s  gifts,  which 
are  the  despair  of  European  chemical  science,  and 
which  we  can  only  liken  to  happy  functional  expres- 
sions'of  aesthetic  temperament  in  the  objects  them- 
selves, as  the  sun  glorifies  the  clear  sky,  according  to 
its  season  and  position  in  the  heavens.  Their  combi- 
nations, oppositions,  balancing  of  masses,  fineness  of 
gradations,  breadth,  variety,  depths,  intensity,  clear- 
ness, directness,  dexterity,  boldness,  apparent  posses- 
sion of  the  chemical  secrets  of  nature,  self-reliance,  and 
infinity  of  devices,  heedless  whether  or  not  they  make 
the  structural  design  or  motive  play  a secondary  part, 
especially  as  regards  the  human  figure,  a practice  so 
contrary  to  ours,  are  all  calculated  to  startle  eyes 
accustomed  to  view  the  organic  form  as  of  first  im- 
portance in  art  composition.  With  all  their  license, 
however,  no  people  know  better  how  to  accurately 
illustrate  natural  history.  Their  prints  of  birds, 
fishes,  animals,  plants,  and  insects,  are  true  to  life. 

Several  years  ago  a Japanese  student  in  Paris,  de- 
japanese  scribed  to  me  as  existing  in  his  country, 
water-color  costly  albums  of  water-colors,  done  by  dis- 
dra wmgs.  tinguished  artists  of  former  times,  but  which 

were  now  become  rare.  At  last  I had  the  good  for- 
tune to  see  one.  It  was  beautifully  mounted  with 
chased  silver  at  the  corners,  and  opened  like  one  of 
their  house-screens,  so  that  it  could  be  extended  the 
length  of  the  entire  number  of  paintings.  Their  deli- 
cacy, truthfulness,  subtlety  of  gradation  and  drawing, 
vividness  of  color,  and  pure  sentiment,  were  fully  up 
to  my  informant’s  words,  which,  at  the  time  I con- 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  151 


jectured,  were  more  patriotic  tlian  exact.  The  sub- 
jects were  chiefly  birds,  insects,  flowers,  and  natural 
objects,  and  a few  imaginative  compositions  done  flat 
and  shadowless  after  their  usual  method  ; but  with  a 
wonderful  characterization  of  each  object,  and  a re- 
finement of  touch  and  close  sympathy  with  its  hap- 
piest moments,  that  could  not  fail  to  satisfy  the  most 
critical  exigencies  of  this  kind  of  art. 

Those  highly  decorated  albums  which  reveal  the 
mysteries  of  fashionable  life  in  Japan,  are 

J m *-  Albums  m 

more  resplendent  in  color,  but  somewhat  printed 

t colors. 

crude  and  exaggerated  in  contrasted  masses, 
especially  if  executed  under  foreign  influence,  merely 
as  merchandise.  The  best  of  them,  however,  have 
some  extraordinary  merits.  There  lies  before  me  a 
favorable  example  printed  on  finest  crape,  the  crimped 
texture  helping  its  tender  hue  and  softness  of  surface, 
and  agreeably  subduing  tints,  which  on  white  paper 
would  be  too  much  accentuated.  Invariably,  the 
first  surprise  arises  from  the  intensity  of  the  color- 
ing, and  the  extravagant  designs  which  distinguish 
the  cumbersome  costumes  of  both  sexes.  The  dresses 
of  any  class  are  seldom  of  sombre  and  quiet  hues, 
although  we  do  sometimes  see  shades  of  colors  which 
the  most  refined  European  taste  might  envy.  Gen- 
erally, however,  the  figures  on  them  are  taken  from 
the  gayest  specimens  of  the  animal  or  vegetable  king- 
doms, chiefly  birds  and  flowers,  distributed  in  loose 
order,  although  geometrical  patterns  and  arabesques, 
somewhat  similar  to  the  designs  in  Eastern  carpets 
and  Cashmere  shawls  are  common.  Extremest  depth 
of  color,  no  faint  toilet  tints,  thin  and  evanescent 
like  hues  of  confectionery  ; but  got  direct  by  an  al- 
chemy of  fadeless  dyeing  from  natural  objects,  whose 


152 


A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


sheen  they  rival,  giving  a bright  sparkle  throughout, 
each  figure  a complete  picture  in  itself,  and  in  accord 
with  its  neighbor,  the  whole  forming  moving  tableaus 
in  harmonious  confusion,  birds  of  paradise  displaying 
their  fairest  feathers,  beds  of  contrasting  and  inter- 
blending flowers.  Such  is  the  first  impression  on  the 
eye  of  one  of  these  fashion-plate  albums, — altogether 
stronger  than  is  agreeable. 

This  is  only  the  partial  effect.  We  have  equally 
emphasized  background,  redolent  with  the  perfume 
of  pink  blossoms,  the  sweetness  of  young  grass,  sil- 
ver flow  of  clear-running  streams,  foam  and  toss  of 
ocean,  mysteries  of  fog-veiled  landscape,  blue  hori- 
zons crag-pierced,  and  far-away  mountain  peaks,  lost 
in  dazzling  snow,  or  else  elaborately  decorated  wall- 
screens  covered  with  histories,  romances,  and  myths, 
epitomized  panoramas  of  the  fabulous  ages,  half-hid 
by  embroidered  draperies  of  richest  satins,  descend- 
ing close  to  beautiful  mattings  of  uniform  hues  ; but 
high-pitched  like  all  the  rest,  color-eloquent  through- 
out, and  sense-exciting  as  is  a passionate  overture 
to  a grand  opera,  every  detail  indicating  an  aesthetic 
fondness  for  brightest  tints. 

Words  are  as  futile  to  describe  color  as  music.  A 
system  of  faint  inkling  of  the  J apanese  methods  and 

coloring.  effects  is  all  one  can  hope  to  give.  There 

is  a delicate  gradation  of  the  bright  tints  which  con- 
ventionally represent  sky,  water,  land,  or  vegetation, 
which  is  as  frankly  genuine  as  the  similar  work  of 
our  mediaeval  miniaturists  ; often  the  more  wonderful 
from  being  printed,-  and  with  a vitality  of  associa- 
tive impression  that  may  well  put  to  blush  the  crude- 
ness and  dead  ness  of  our  chromographs.  Forms  also 
are  outlined  in  the  flat  with  an  admirable  structu- 


154  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  weight  of  his  mistress,  who,  absorbed  in  her  own 
action,  regards  him  no  more  than  if  he  was  literally 
a bit  of  furniture.  Her  unsteadiness  of  balance  is 
ludicrously  perceptible,  echoed  in  the  half-alarmed 
and  half-smiling  watchful  looks  of  the  women,  who 
evidently  expect  her  to  tumble.  At  first  the  brilliancy 
of  coloring  of  the  whole  picture  obscures  the  drollery 
and  intensified  action  of  the  actors  ; but  as  soon  as 
these  delightful  qualities  are  noticed  they  form  a suf- 
ficient compensation  for  defects  in  other  particulars, 
and  force  the  coloring  to  assume  its  relative  position 
in  the  story. 

The  same  album  introduces  us  to  musical  soirees,  lit- 
erary and  artistic  reunions  (Japanese  ladies, 

Scenes  in  . J r ’ 

fashionable  be  it  known,  sketch  and  paint  exceedingly 
well) ; calls  of  etiquette,  games,  moonlit 
walks ; coteries  of  scandal-mongers,  whose  finesse  of 
pantomime  is  worthy  of  the  best  comic  acting  ; tea 
festivities ; and  the  chivalric  rescue  of  two  ladies  at 
night,  attacked  by  an  armed  ruffian,  bribed  by  a 
rival  to  maltreat  them — the  whole  forming  a graphic 
epitome  of  high  life  in  Japan.  The  short  descriptive 
text  is  printed  on  the  illustrated  paper  in  color,  and 
forms  an  ornamental  detail  in  keeping  with  it.  The 
artist  further  violates  our  rules  by  omitting  all  shad- 
ows. Whenever  he  attempts  anything  on  our  sys- 
tem he  loses  the  fascination  of  his  own.  We  may 
smile,  on  looking  out  of  one  of  his  brilliantly-lighted 
rooms  — for  example,  that  of  the  musical  party  — 
into  the  dark  night  outside,  to  see  the  blossoms  on 
the  trees  as  distinctly  outlined  and  colored  as  if  the 
sun  shone  on  them.  But  he  is  no  fool,  for  all  this. 
He  knows  as  well  as  any  one  how  much  of  them  he 
could  see  under  the  circumstances ; but  he  wants  us 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  155 


to  know  that  the  air  of  that  room  is  filled  with  their 
fragrance.  To  the  concert  of  sweet  sounds  he  adds 
a concert  of  sweet  odors,  and  doubles  our  sensuous 
enjoyment,  at  the  expense  of  an  unimportant  mate- 
rial fact.  This  is  a duty  of  the  artist,  founded  on 
an  aesthetic  consciousness  of  a far  higher  quality  than 
any  possible  fidelity  of  literal  draughtsmanship.  In 
the  rescue  scene  the  branches  of  the  tree,  partaking 
of  the  spirit  of  the  spectacle,  look  weird  and  threat- 
ening, and  its  blossoms  gleam  in  the  dark  like  the 
sinister  eyes  of  an  animal  of  prey.  This  sort  of 
occult  sympathy  between  the  artist  and  Nature  is  a 
striking  feature  in  Japanese  work. 

Although  the  elementary  principles  and  practice 
are  so  fundamentally  sound,  they  belong  to  a primary 
stage  of  civilization,  — right  as  far  as  they  go,  but  not 
going  far  enough.  We  must  admit  they  are  success- 
ful in  imparting  that  refined  pleasure  which  is  the 
end  and  aim  of  true  art.  Two  things  they  teach  us  : 
first,  to  see  the  selected  fact  — characteristically  al- 
ways, and  often  beautifully,  even  if  it  be  not  beautiful 
in  choice  ; secondly,  either  to  enter  cordially  and  in- 
telligently into  its  proper  life,  or,  by  the  cunning  of 
an  inventive  will,  to  transform  it  into  another  quite 
distinct  from  its  native  sphere.  No  people  more  thor- 
oughly understand  the  respective  offices  of 
Art  and  Nature,  and  where  to  draw  the 
boundary  between  them.  They  fully  com- 
prehend that  art  has  an  independent  aim  ; 


that  it  exists  in  virtue  of  its  own  being,  un- 


How  the 
Japanese 
understand 
the  relative 
offices  and 
functions 
of  nature 
and  art. 


trammeled  by  theories  of  ethics,  political  economy,  or 
natural  science ; and  that,  while  it  culls  its  principles 
and  methods  from  nature,  it  has  no  call  to  be  her  ser- 
vile imitator,  or  to  defer  to  the  prosaic  requirements  of 


156  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


a merely  industrial  existence.  True,  Japanese  art  has 
never  learned  the  use  of  shadow  in  relief,  or  to  know 
that  each  positive  color  is  relatively  dark  or  light  to 
some  other  of  a higher  or  lower  shade  of  brightness 
with  which  it  is  placed  in  connection.  Neither  are 
they  familiar  with  those  subtle  glazings  and  luminous 
gradations  of  mingled  tints  which  give  perfection  to 
modeling  in  color,  and  spread  a warm,  transparent 
atmosphere  over  a picture.  But  they  excel  in  out- 
lining and  tinting  spaces,  matching  them  by  the  eye 
after  nature,  correct  in  general  tone,  and  so  opposed 
as  to  imbue  the  scene  with  an  aerial  perspective  and 
the  proper  sentiment  of  the  season  or  hour.  In  this 
way  we  get  an  objective  consciousness  of  a lowering 
day  in  winter,  the  air  full  of  latent  snow-flakes,  or 
sparkling  with  bewildering  sunlight ; the  warm  haze, 
or  cloudless  sky  of  summer  ; twilight  mystery,  star- 
lit gloom  of  darkest  night,  cold  rays  of  moon  trip- 
ping over  still  waters  ; midnight,  welcome  to  weird 
visitors  from  the  spirit  world  and  the  noisy  tug  of 
noontide  life.  Each  and  all  of  these  conditions  they 
make  so  clearly  manifest  as  to  cause  one  to  pause 
before  abjuring  them  to  change  a system  which  serves 
their  art  so  well  for  the  technics  which  serve  ours  so 
indifferently.  Ruskin’s  axiom,  that  no  art  is  vital 
and  beautiful  which  does  not  represent  the  “ facts  of 
things”  (a  vague  phrase,  but  meaning,  I suppose, 
their  literal  likeness),  is  often  confuted  by  the  Japan- 
ese ; for  they  do  produce  much  that  is  vitally  beauti- 
ful without  being  an  exact  fact  in  nature.  Carried 
to  extremes,  this  disposition  furnishes  the  world  with 
those  ingeniously  constructed  mermaids  which  have 
puzzled  prosaic  brains  and  amused  the  imaginative. 
Their  rule  is,  not  to  imitate  nature  as  a girl  counts 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  157 


stitches  in  her  worsted-work  ; but  to  make  the  most 
of  the  impressions  she  leaves  on  the  mind  in  the 
whole.  This  is  preferable  to  giving  minute  details 
detected  by  the  eye  in  a microscopic  search,  as  it 
were.  Neither  topographical  delineation  nor  scien- 
tific dryness  of  illustration  are  emulated  by  them. 
Their  artistic  supremacy  mainly  rests  on  their  ability 
to  vary  at  will  the  forms  and  combinations  of  nature, 
and  to  invent  new  ones. 

The  Japanese  artist  has  his  jokes  with  natural  ob- 
jects as  with  his  gods  and  heroes  ; but  he  does  Jokes  with 
not  systematically  perpetrate  those  horticul-  ^ithhis8 
ural  arboreal  outrages  which  the  Chinese  do  rellg1011, 
in  trying  to  help  nature  adorn  herself.  Occasionally 
some  monstrous  grotesque  prank,  like  changing  a 
colossal  pine  into  a vessel,  with  masts,  yards,  and 
oars,  indicates  his  love  of  the  burlesque  in  this  di- 
rection. But  he  is  more  apt  to  confine  his  ingenuity 
to  dwarfing  trees  or  rearing  monstrous  flowers.  Doubt- 
less the  Dutch  borrowed  their  passion  for  travestying 
nature  from  this  Oriental  source,  developing  it  into 
still  greater  uncouthness,  and  transmitting  their  per- 
verted taste  to  their  neighbors.  But  like  everything 
else  they  borrowed  from  the  Japanese,  they  failed  to 
improve  on  it,  and  only  succeeded  in  making  what- 
ever might  be  incongruous  or  ugly,  still  more  so. 

Supreme  facility  of  expression  is  as  common  to 
Japanese  art  as  the  reverse  in  ours.  Im-  japaneseart 
mensely  painstaking  in  representing  mate-  andr7ugges- 
rial  nature,  we  too  often  succeed  only  in  muVhwfth 
producing  its  counterfeit  and  unmistakably  andhiittiean8 
labeling  it  as  such.  If  that  be  the  pro-  effort- 
foundest  art  which  suggests  rather  than  imitates 
with  the  least  perceptible  effort,  then  the  Japanese 


„ 158  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


are  our  teachers.  Our  art  tends  to  destroy  itself  by 
a fruitless  rivalry  with  nature,  and  is  slain  as  was 
Marsyas  for  his  insane  presumption  in  vying  with  a 
god.  We  cannot  too  often  be  told  that  the  gist  of 
art  is  not  in  imitating  nature  in  view  of  rivaling  her 
work,  but  in  studying  her  methods,  laws,  and  princi- 
ples, to  the  intent  to  create  independent  works  by 
the  exercise  of  the  artist’s  own  creative  will,  thereby 
making  himself  a creator . 

This  organic  principle  is  found  in  all  sound  Japan- 
ese work.  Be  the  object  a flower,  insect,  animal,  fish, 
bird,  or  reptile ; a ghost  or  demigod ; dragons,  genii, 
monsters,  or  divinities : each  exists  in  virtue  of  the 
will  and  handicraft  of  an  artist  who  has  acquired  his 
dominion  over  material  things  by  studying  their  oc- 
cult laws  of  being.  By  sagaciously  comprehending 
his  own  relation  to  nature  he  succeeds  in  making 
his  art  an  organic,  intellectual,  and  material  force  in 
civilization  and  interpreter  of  human  possibilities. 

Japanese  pictorial  art  has  a fragmentary  aspect  in 
the  mass.  It  is  better  pleased  with  strong 
cal  methods  isolated  bits,  than  connected  compositions, 
an  aims.  xhese,  however,  are  largely  treated,  al- 
though seldom  put  together  so  as  to  be  a completed 
unity  of  idea  and  execution,  designed  in  reference  to 
a central  motive  and  point  of  view.  Instead,  we  get 
a series  of  panoramic  scenes  in  which  each  figure  has 
a more  or  less  independent  position  and  action. 
There  is  no  exact  perspective  of  converging  lines ; 
no  chiaroscuro , or  modeling  by  gradations  of  light 
and  shade  and  ordinarily  small  attention  given  to 
the  laws  of  proportions  or  distances  as  regards  single 
objects  on  the  page  of  cheap  books.  In  their  place 
they  give  flat  surfaces,  flat,  sharp  outlines,  and  flat 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK . 159 


tints.  Nevertheless,  in  more  important  works,  by 
local  massing  of  colors,  an  adroit  management  of 
horizontal  lines,  and  skillful  zig-zags,  they  contrive  to 
spread  out  before  our  vision  vast  reaches  of  country 
and  ocean,  receding  into  the  far  distance  or  expand- 
ing into  broad  space  in  an  effective  manner.  More- 
over, they  are  dextrous  in  securing  atmospherical 
tones  indicative  of  the  time  of  night  or  day,  the  sea- 
son, and  the  state  of  the  elements,  by  a nicely  gradu- 
ated system  of  tinting.  Local  and  passing  effects  are 
enhanced  by  contrasts  and  combinations  of  positive, 
brilliant  coloring,  such  as  the  blossoms  of  trees  and 
costumes  of  the  period  of  the  year  suggest.  Snow 
scenes,  expanses  of  limpid  waters,  far-away  hills, 
bounding  wide  intervals  of  lowlands,  valleys  running 
sharply  and  tortuously  into  crags  and  precipices,  large 
plats  of  vegetation  accentuated  by  living  objects, 
bridges,  boats,  and  villages  scattered  in  relative  dis- 
tances, the  whole  with  a high  horizon-line,  illumined 
by  broad  stratas  of  varied  warm  lights,  or  broken  into 
patches  half  buried  in  mists,  alternate  objective  clear- 
ness and  suggestive  mystery : such  are  some  of  the 
artistic  features  of  a school  of  landscape  in  every  way 
opposed  to  our  own,  and  if  with  less  topographical  ex- 
actitude of  surface  detail,  of  infinitely  more  simplicity 
and  poetical  suggestiveness. 

I own  an  antique  album  of  sketches  by  various 
“old  masters”  of  Japan,  a little  less  than 

J-  An  ancient 

four  inches  square,  opening  reversely,  with  aibum^f^ 
thirty-eight  sepia  and  water  color  drawings  their  old 

w ci  x o masters. 

on  the  alternate  pages,  which  are  connected 
together  by  delicate  low-toned  gold  leaf  that  also 
forms  a frame  to  each  painting.  In  tender  feeling, 
delicacy  of  execution  and  aesthetic  sensitiveness,  it  is 


160  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


of  marvelous  merit  and  is  quite  a compendium  of 
the  best  points  of  Japanese  genre  and  landscape  art. 
There  are  two  drawings,  which  for  homely  realis- 
tic truth  and  force  would  do  credit-  to  the  best  Dutch 
master.  One  is  a man,  seated,  mending  a basket, 
which  looks  as  if  stolen  from  Teniers  the  elder,  and 
the  other  a buffalo,  grazing,  of  splendid  action  and 
figure,  looking  like  the  large  beast  itself,  yet  drawn 
within  the  circumference  of  a silver  dollar.  A com- 
position in  extreme  miniature  of  eight  old  men 
grouped  in  a circle,  each  of  different  expression  and 
movement,  but  all  animated  by  a common  feeling,  is 
as  well  composed  and  drawn  as  if  done  by  our  best 
mediaeval  miniaturists.  But  the  most  touching  bits 
are  the  landscapes.  There  are  foreground  scenes  of 
lowlands  and  forests,  backgrounds  of  distant  ranges 
of  high  mountains,  with  intervening  fog  like  a semi- 
transparent veil,  broken  into  rifts  which  just  disclose 
tree-forms  and  hint  at  other  mysteries  of  nature,  and 
gives  a glimpse  of  an  old  man  sitting  in  a balcony 
watching  the  moon  rising  over  the  nearer  hills,  and 
silvering  the  whole  spectacle  with  its  pale  light. 

There  is  another  scene  of  a village  on  a bay  in  the 
foreground,  half  hidden  in  mist  whilst  the  water  and 
opposite  coast  are  in  full  view  ; blue  hills  farther  off, 
and  a vessel  receding  in  the  distance,  — all  the  forms 
and  phenomena  most  beautifully  suggested.  Sugges- 
tion is  the  highest  merit  of  these  diminutive  draw- 
ings ; they  place  a rare  spectacle  before  the  eye  in 
a brief,  telling  manner,  leaving  the  imagination  as 
wdth  nature  to  work  out  the  entire  riddle  and  dis- 
cover all  that  is  hinted  rather  than  directly  shown. 
Another  landscape  presents  in  clear  daylight  abrupt 
precipices,  covered  with  wild  cherry  trees  in  their 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  161 


full  gorgeous  blossoming,  overhanging  an  arm  of  the 
sea  on  which  floats,  dream-like,  a solitary  fisher- 
man’s boat.  In  a companion  picture,  standing  on 
high  ground  we  look  down  a gorge  in  a mountain 
over  a wide  expanse  of  cultivated  plain,  through 
which  flows  a placid  river  towards  a forest  at  the 
base  of  a chain  of  wooded  hills  ; far  beyond  them 
rise  with  gentle  sweep  against  the  horizon  the  peaks 
of  another  range  of  mountains  painted  after  the  fash- 
ion, and  in  those  pure  azure  tints  which  the  knurly 
old  Perugino  taught  the  boy  Raffaello  Sanzio  how  to 
use  when  he  first  sought  his  studio. 

Now  if  any  of  our  more  scientifically  taught  artists 
can  get  into  as  few  square  inches  of  paper  a more 
distinct  realization  of  space,  distance,  atmosphere, 
perspective,  and  landscape  generally,  not  to  mention 
appropriate  sentiment,  I have  yet  to  discover  the 
fact. 

The  little  casket  which  holds  these  artistic  treas- 
ures is  worthy  of  the  contents.  It  is  of  the  finest 
gold  lacquer,  of  the  pale,  warm  hue  never  seen  now 
in  the  new,  giving  a quiet  repose  to  the  eye  like  a 
subdued  sunlight,  semi-transparent  as  it  were,  and  as 
cheerful  in  tone  as  suggestive  of  life,  because  of  sun- 
dry sprays  of  wild  plants  in  lowest  relief  tossed  with 
graceful  freedom  onto  its  sides,  the  flower  of  one  ap- 
parently forming  the  heraldic  device  of  the  noble 
family  to  which  it  once  belonged.  The  inside  and 
bottom  are  of  the  finest  powdered  gold  on  a darker 
ground,  like  the  milky  way  in  the  heavens,  or  as  an 
enthusiastic  amateur  once  called  it,  “ the  cosmic  dust 
of  an  embryonic  planet.” 

The  more  choice  books  of  designs  and  albums 
receive  characteristic  names,  such  as  “ The  Mirror 
11 


162  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


of  Models,  by  distinguished  Chinese  and  Japanese 
artists,”  “ Treasure  of  Japanese  and  Chi- 

Poetical  ^ 

nomencia-  nese  celebrated  Drawings,”  etc.  ; a national 
union  which  makes  it  a little  uncertain  at 
times  to  discriminate  between  their  pencils.  Mitford 
mentions  a few  of  the  quaintly  pretty  appellations 
given  to  noted  public  beauties  of  the  frail  sort,  show- 
ing that  the  Japanese  mind  does  not  relish  the  coarse- 
ly expressive  terms  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  fancy  is 
wont  to  apply  to  similar  society,  and  that  their  lan- 
guage, as  well  as  art,  is  a most  prolific  treasury  of 
aesthetic  sentiment.  I will  cite  only  a few  of  the 
many  attractive  names  bestowed  on  famous  courte- 
sans, viz.:  “Pearl-Harp,”  “Waterfall,”  “White- 
Brightness,”  which  reminds  one  of  Mrs.  Browning’s 
“White-Silence,”  when  speaking  of  one  of  Powers’ 
statues  ; “ Forest  of  Cherries,”  “ Brightness  of  Flow- 
ers,” as  proving  that  even  in  sensuality  the  poetical 
love  of  nature  is  always  uppermost  with  the  romantic 
people. 

But  let  us  go  back  to  our  landscape,  where  we  are 
certain  to  find  no  drawbacks  to  pure  enjoyment. 

Look  at  this  tender  wash  of  india-ink  rep- 
LPEpe  resenting  the  ocean  with  junks  at  anchor 
off  a forest-covered  point,  under  the  shadow 
of  which,  embowered  in  orchards,  nestles  a small 
village  whose  windows  are  aglow  with  inside  lights. 
The  horizon  on  the  right  is  darkened  by  distant  hills, 
over  which  the  full  moon  sheds  its  limpid  beams, 
fusing  the  entire  scene  into  poetical  indistinctness 
that  takes  the  thought  at  once  captive  into  dream- 
land. Much  of  the  indescribable  delicacy  of  effect  in 
these  choice  views  is  ’owing,  without  doubt,  to  the  ex- 
treme fineness  of  hue  and  texture  of  the  material  on 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  163 


which  they  are  designed.  And  here,  before  forget- 
ting it,  I ought  to  qualify  my  previous  assertions  as 
to  the  flatness  and  want  of  modeling  of  Japanese 
drawings.  These  remarks,  like  the  similar  criticism 
of  the  lack  of  scientific  perspective,  apply,  it  is  true, 
largely,  and  perhaps  entirely,  to  the  average  common 
art.  But  their  best  draughtsmen,  whether  in  india- 
ink  or  color,  do  when  they  choose  obtain  by  grada- 
tions of  either  most  subtle  and  truthful  relief  and  ac- 
curate generic  and  specific  form. 

They  are  not  so  happy  in  depicting  abrupt  heights, 
because  their  system  of  successive  planes  of  horizon 
is  adverse  to  these  illusions.  But  they  are  very 
felicitous  in  storm  effects,  alternating  torrents  of  rain 
wind  driven  over  vast  surfaces,  with  sparkle  of  fleet- 
ing sunbeams,  or  disguisings  of  gray  fog  broken  by 
scattered  trees,  house-tops,  or  ranges  of  high-land,  a 
vapory  morn,  or  cloudy  sun  deepening  the  obscurity 
rendered  more  mysterious  and  full  of  gloom  by  the 
flitter  of  bat’s  wings  in  the  faint  twilight,  birds  pass- 
ing athwart  the  moon  seen  as  flitting,  ominous  specks 
of  dark,  men  as  phantoms  in  the  uncanny  vagueness 
of  night,  oppositions  of  moonbeams  and  torchlights, 
magic  twitter  of  shadow,  volumes  of  rolling  mists  and 
abrupt  disclosures  of  forms  and  lines  dissolving  in- 
stantly into  fresh  oblivion ; a dash  of  poetical  beauty 
and  sympathetic  feeling  in  every  stroke,  keenest 
choice  of  aesthetic  conditions,  all  these  and  much  else 
make  up  the  artistic  machinery  of  detail  which  is 
used  to  deepen  the  stress  of  the  main  motive. 

The  Japanese  reverse  the  practice  of  our  scenic 
landscapists;  for  instead  of  filling  up  their  They reverse 
work  with  a multiplicity  of  accessories  la- 
boriously  finished,  leaving  the  general  fea-  practice- 


164  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


tures  imperfectly  or  superficially  executed,  they  add 
but  a few  minor  motives  to  the  principal  ones,  either 
faintly  depicting  or  carefully  adding  a small  number 
of  well-chosen  details  and  rely  chiefly  on  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  spectator  to  complete,  as  it  were,  the 
picture,  or  take  in  the  full  measure  of  its  meaning,  — 
an  agreeable  task,  of  which  the  European  artist  too 
frequently  deprives  us.  Waves  and  rocks  seem  be- 
yond their  skill  in  a strictly  realistic  sense,  but  their 
conventional  forms  are  frankly  and  sincerely  ren- 
dered. The  spirit  and  tone  of  any  given  spectacle 
are  certain  to  be  largely  and  unmistakably  rendered. 
Personal  idiosyncracies  never  crowd  aside  the  legiti- 
mate feeling  of  the  topic.  Always  we  notice  strict 
loyalty  to  the  motive.  This  absorption  of  the  artist 
in  his  object  communicates  itself  to  the  spectator. 
Be  it  a mere  blade  of  grass,  bit  of  vine,  branch  of 
blossoms,  jagged  plantain  leaf,  cane-stalk,  a shrub 
bowed  down  by  the  wind,  bird  pluming  itself  or 
swooping  on  its  prey,  the  inevitable  stork,  fish  repos- 
ing on  his  fins,  in  short,  any  natural  object  under  any 
condition  of  its  existence,  a Japanese  draughtsman  is 
sure  to  give  it  genuine  characterization  and  make  it 
appear  at  its  best. 

Witness  the  admirable  drawings  of  tall  bamboos, 
sometimes  printed  from  blocks  and  some- 
b^Sboo^  °f  times  colored  by  hand ! The  joints  are 
simply  blank  interstices  left  in  the  drawing, 
through  which  the  paper  shows,  while  each  leaf,  dis- 
connected from  the  stem,  would  tumble  to  the  ground 
were  it  a real  leaf.  -No  two  indicating  strokes  of  the 
pencil  are  alike.  A looser,  freer  system  of  design 
cannot  be  imagined.  Yet  every  part  of  the  plant  has 
its  correct  physiognomy.  Its  forms  and  reliefs  are 


LIFE  OF  THE  ARTISAN  AND  HIS  WORK.  165 


thoroughly  shown  by  gradations  of  tints  and  tones ; 
its  physiology  is  simply  perfect.  No  art  can  be  more 
artless  to  the  eye  or  exhibit  less  of  what  our  Pre- 
raphaelites  call  “ truth  of  detail.”  Yet  every  one  who 
sees  these  slight  sketches  exclaims,  “How  like  na- 
ture ! ” In  thus  sparing  himself  the  artist  has  equally 
spared  the  spectator,  and  nevertheless  fully  realized  to 
his  consciousness  a vitally  true  plant,  sway- 
ing in  the  breeze  and  glowing  in  the  sun-  niate  art  of 
light.  This  is  consummate  art  of  its  kind, 
and  the  skill  that  produces  it  can  only  be  acquired  by 
an  intimate  study  of  and  close  sympathy  with  nature 
joined  to  the  purest  taste  and  a thorough  appreciation 
of  whatever  is  simple,  and  true,  and  beautiful. 

I once  more  repeat,  because  it  is ‘so  often  gainsaid 
by  modern  theory  and  practice,  that  it  is  a 
specious  fallacy  to  suppose  that  genuine  art  art  as  under- 
consists in  a blind  adherence  to  nature.  It  Ja°p°aneKs 
perishes  by  this  process ; for  its  spirit  and 
object  are  as  much  creative  as  Nature’s  herself,  but 
with  an  aim  which  can  be  reached  only  by  original 
and  independent  processes.  Nature  admits  beauty 
as  a secondary  element  to  disguise  or  make  palatable 
much  which  otherwise  would  be  terrible  or  repugnant 
to  man’s  finite  powers.  Art  has  quite  another  scope, 
constitution,  and  desire.  The  offspring  of  man’s  crea- 
tive faculties,  originated  expressly  for  his  happiness, 
subject  to  his  will,  depending  on  his  handicraft,  it  best 
asserts  its  power  and  nobility  by  independent  thought 
and  action,  using  Nature  as  a friendly  auxiliary  and 
kindred  force,  but  never  blindly  following  her  ways 
or  servilely  copying  her  forms.  In  some  sense  each 
has  an  antagonistic  end  in  view ; certainly  a prima- 
ry purpose  engendering  distinct  types  and  idealisms, 


166  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 

and  by  consequence,  separate  rules  and  laws  of  being. 
The  perfection  of  the  one  is  not  necessarily  the  su- 
preme organization  of  the  other.  Art’s  means  of 
winning  its  ends  are  even  more  drawn  from  the  arsen- 
als of  human  imagination  than  from  the  forms  and 
idealisms  of  nature.  Invention,  instead  of  imitation, 
is  its  vital  force.  Whether  Art  is  like  or  unlike 
Nature  in  its  constructive  forces  and  models,  it  is 
always  most  fascinating  and  elevating  when  least  in 
bondage  to  her.  And  it  is  this  perfect  liberty,  united 
to  docile  teachability,  which  gives  intrinsic  aesthetic 
value  to  Japanese  decorative  art. 


SECTION  V. 


JAPANESE  DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL  ART. — 

ITS  PRINCIPLES  AND  RULES,  EXAMPLES,  ETC. 

It  will  be  instructive  to  carefully  note  some  of  the 
chief  points  of  Japanese  decorative  art,  as  a chief  points 
lesson  to  our  own  artisans,  and  a guide  to  a decoraUve86 
more  correct  taste  and  practice  than  now  ob-  arfc‘ 
tains  with  us,  except  with  the  few  persons  who  make 
oriental  art  a special  study. 

First.  The  mechanical  finish  of  an  article  is  com- 
plete and  thorough  in  every  part,  not  ex-  Itgfinigh 
celled  in  scientific  exactness,  and  seldom 
equaled  in  ingenuity  of  construction,  and  what  we 
may  call  a dextrous  application  of  its  utilitarian 
properties,  by  the  best  workmanship  of  Europe.  Ex- 
perience shows  that  any  closely-fitting  object,  in  itself 
most  admirably  adapted  to  its  specific  purpose,  after 
centuries  of  wear,  remains  nearly  as  perfect  as  when 
it  first  left  the  artisan’s  fingers.  Quite  independent 
of  their  aesthetic  skill,  these  have  a nicety  of  mechani- 
cal touch  guided  by  an  almost  infallible  eye,  and  a 
practical  knowledge  of  their  constructive  material, 
that  puts  all  our  hard,  monotonous,  unsympathetic 
machine-work  to  the  blush,  in  those  very  qualities  on 
which  it  most  prides  itself.  The  human  hand  trained 
to  highest  skill,  must  of  necessity  put  some  of  its 
moving  feeling  into  its  work,  and  which  immediately 
manifests  itself  to  even  a careless  eye,  when  seen  in 
company  with  the  tameless  accuracy,  and  meaning- 


168  A GLIMPSE  AT  TUE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


less  forms  and  finish  of  that  done  by  steam-labor 
alone.  The  subsequent  shrinkings,  lack  of  solidity, 
and  general  tendency  of  our  objects,  as  age  advances, 
to  get  out  of  order,  is  too  well  known  to  require  other 
mention.  Even  in  our  very  best  and  most  costly 
works,  it  is  seldom  that  equal  attention  is  given  both 
to  the  aesthetic  features  and  to  the  mechanical  con- 
struction. One  is  quite  certain  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
other,  and  thus  the  finish,  as  a unity,  is  incomplete. 
Our  Japanese  artisan  deems  a well-balanced  perfec- 
tion in  each  requisite  to  completeness  as  a whole. 

Second.  Each  of  the  ornamental  features  is  de- 
signed  and  finished  with  uniform  scrupulous 
thorough-  attention  to  its  motive  and  object,  as  related 

ness.  . J 

to  the  mass.  While  nothing  superfluous  to 
the  specific  aim,  and  rules  of  taste  which  regulate 
the  work  in  hand  is  permitted,  no  part,  whether  con- 
spicuous or  not,  is  slighted  or  neglected.  Thorough- 
ness and  completeness  are  the  rule. 

Third.  Variety  of  form  and  expression  is  equally 
.et  a law  of  construction  ; no  pairs  of  objects  are 
. precisely  alike,  unless  made  to  order  for  a 
foreign  market.  Each  article  has  its  particular  physi- 
ognomy and  peculiar  features,  differing  from  all  others 
of  the  same  family,  as  one  man  is  unlike  another. 
There  are  no  monotonous  resemblances,  and  plati- 
tudes of  character,  as  with  most  European  produc- 
tions. The  commonest  object  has  its  distinctive  ar- 
tistic physiognomy,  even  if  it  be  repeated  millions  of 
times,  and  costing  only  a penny  each  ; like  the  ubiq- 
uitous fan,  which  isi  so  often  endowed  with  a felici- 
tous aesthetic  significance  that  one  forgets  its  use  in 
admiration.  Hair-pins,  combs,  knife-liandles,  and  a 
thousand  other  little  things  of  daily  necessity,  are  also 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


1(39 


exalted  into  suggestive  and  beautiful  art,  as  by  a nec- 
romancer’s spell.  It  requires  no  inconsiderable  aes- 
thetic culture,  fully  to  appreciate  the  exquisite  taste, 
enlivened  by  an  inexhaustible  fancy  of  design,  with 
which  this  class  of  articles  are  dowered  in  their  uni- 
versal marriage  of  beauty  to  utility.  We  doom  it,  as 
a general  rule,  to  the  celibacy  of  a barren  homeli- 
ness, treating  it  as  in  a condition  of  perpetual  servi- 
tude, with  no  possibilities  of  a claim  to  our  affections 
or  companionship  with  our  understandings.  What 
we  do  essay  as  art  in  this  direction,  is  chiefly  given 
to  expensive  and  useless  objects,  or  superficial  and 
tawdry,  which  speedily  pall  on  the  sight,  and  con- 
stantly call  for  new  fashions  to  keep  them  even  in 
temporary  favor.  Japanese  ornamental  art,  on  the 
contrary,  like  tried  friendships,  becomes  dearer  the 
longer  we  possess  it,  while  its  fecundity  is  no  less  a 
marvel  than  its  perennial  freshness,  and  the  perfect- 
ness of  its  many-sided  life. 

In  this  relation  there  is  no  more  noticeable  feature 
of  their  ornament  than  the  decided  objection,  indeed, 
absolute  dislike  of  uniform  designs  and  repetitions  of 
details,  dividing  lines  and  making  counterparts  of 
spaces  and  patterns.  Diapers  and  frets  are  sparsely 
employed  and  seem  to  be  really  exotic  art,  although 
when  used,  made  very  effective  by  contrasts  and  irreg- 
ularity of  masses.  Perfect  balances  and  harmonies  of 
unequal  parts,  and  broken  up  surfaces,  are  combined 
with  infinite  varieties  of  line  and  outline,  pose,  fig- 
ure, and  shape  ; ingeniously  protesting  against  even 
the  simplest  geometrical  monotonies,  and  distribu- 
ting them  into  no  end  of  never-repeated  variations 
and  forms,  as  if  the  Japanese  brain  had  an  instinc- 
tive hatred  of  duplicating  any  decorative  composition, 


1T0  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


or  even  article,  whether  artistic  or  not ; an  aesthetic 
sagacity  which  comes  from  its  acute  observation  of 
the  methods  of  Nature  in  obtaining  the  greatest  vari- 
ety and  beauty  for  her  creations.  Sometimes,  though 
rarely,  an  object  may  seem  at  first  look  to  be  an  exact 
likeness  of  another ; but  a close  inspection  will  show 
that  even  if  the  general  forms  and  designs  agree,  the 
details  vary  in  position,  outline,  color,  combination,  or 
some  equally  emphatic  point ; and  that  the  governing 
principle  of  variety  in  all  their  work  still  holds  good. 

Fourth.  Perfect  adaptation  of  specific  detail  and 
the  ensemble  of  the  decoration,  or  the  com- 

Its  principle  . . . . 

jrfadapta-  position  as  an  entirety,  to  the  definite  pur- 
pose of  the  object,  or  else  such  a complete 
independence  as  to  banish  all  appearance  of  servicea- 
bleness, are  obvious  characteristics.  This  organic  free- 
dom is  so  emphatic,  that  a bit  of  Japanese  porcelain 
easily  finds  its  true  position  anywhere  as  regards 
its  capacity  of  delightsomeness  ; whereas  a Sevres  or 
Dresden  vase  must  be  put  into  the  exact  situation  for 
which  it  was  constructively  designed  to  get  out  of  it 
any  adequate  aesthetic  satisfaction.  In  its  best  estate, 
it  is  a frail,  insipid  beauty,  the  mere  coquette  of  art ; 
but  more  often  crude,  misshapen,  and  shallow,  how- 
ever disguised  in  seeming  blandishments. 

Fifth.  Pure  form  does  not  hold  a like  superlative 
position  as  in  classical  art  of  a correspond- 

Pure  form.  . , . • 

ing  character,  which  relied  tor  its  attractive- 
ness almost  wholly  on  graceful  shape,  especially  in  its 
bronze  and  terra-cottas,  and  largely  in  its  glass,  the 
ornament  being  in  silhouette,  and  color  and  drawing 
always  subordinated  to  the  desired  form.  Neither  did 
the  Greeks  go  to  nature  for  her  purest  and  simplest 
forms  in  ornamental  detail,  as  did  the  Japanese;  but 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


171 


preferred  arbitrary  and  conventional  design,  at  least 
outside  of  the  human  figure,  which  practice  as  a rule 
the  latter  reverse.  So  far,  however,  from  neglecting 
beautiful  form,  some  of  the  Japanese  objects  are 
scarcely  less  graceful  than  the  Greek,  and  indeed,  in 
some  instances,  almost  suggest  a knowledge  of  them. 
But  these  are  exceptions  to  the  general  rule,  which 
makes  beauty  of  color-decoration  the  chief  aim.  How- 
ever bizarre  and  grotesque  in  ornament  and  shape,  and 
some  is  amazingly  so,  their  decorative  art  is  pretty 
certain  to  be  superior  in  constructive  form,  as  well  as 
quality  and  appropriateness  of  ornament,  to  anything 
similar  elsewhere  not  directly  patterned  after  the  best 
antique  models.  Indeed,  in  originality,  variety,  and 
diversity,-  they  have  won  a foremost  place.  The  ar- 
tistic unity  of  their  color-decoration  is  so  harmonious 
and  perfect,  that  at  first  we  overlook  the  more  purely 
intellectual  delight  of  form,  in  the  subtle  gracefulness 
of  which  the  Japanese  are  by  no  means  deficient  in 
capacity,  if  infrequent  in  practice. 

We  attempt  impossibilities  in  decoration,  and  then 
wonder  why  we  fail.  At  Sevres,  and  wher- 

...  . Sevres  ware 

ever  fine  porcelain  is  made  in  Europe,  the  and  its  Prin- 

. . . ciples  of 

artists  try  to  produce  highly  finished  paint-  decoration 

• J :F  -i*i  • ci  i contrasted 

mgs  of  no  end  of  fine  detail,  copies  of  land-  with  the 

. . 1 ...  Japanese. 

scapes,  historical  and  genre  pictures  m oil, 
or  objects  from  nature,  line  for  line,  tint  for  tint, 
light  and  shade,  space,  perspective,  and  atmosphere, 
all  treated  as  if  painted  on  flat  canvases,  on  hard, 
reflecting,  concave,  or  convex  surfaces  of  mineral  tex- 
ture, without  the  slighest  reference  to  the  destined  use 
or  position  of  the  thing  itself,  or  the  obstacles  which 
its  technical  conditions  present  to  the  laws  of  fine-art 
proper.  Curvatures  of  a vase,  or  dish,  of  necessity 


172  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


destroy  the  perspective  of  a flat  painting  taken  from 
its  proper  point  of  view,  while  its  glistening  substance 
reflects  light,  kills  chiaroscuro , prevents  aerial  trans- 
parency, and  obstructs  those  nice  gradations  of  color 
and  interblendings  which  give  to  oil-painting  proper 
its  legitimate  illusions.  Fine  art  of  this  kind  has  no 
more  right  of  place  in  purely  ornamental  than  has 
natural  history  or  science.  The  artistic  and  aesthetic 
composition  of  the  most  expensive  productions  of  Eu- 
ropean manufacturers  of  pottery  and  porcelain  are  as 
faulty  as  regards  the  true  character  of  art,  as  bad  spell- 
ing and  grammar  are  to  literary  composition.  Appro- 
priateness of  composite  decoration,  each  object  being 
governed  by  its  own  rightful  law  of  being  and  place, 
is  the  crowning  merit  of  the  superior  Japanese  work. 
Every  pattern  is  the  result  of  a careful  calculation  of 
its  relation  to  a given  whole,  causing  the  object  to 
conserve  its  own  aesthetic  and  artistic  character,  to  be 
logically  consistent  in  its  composition,  true  in  contrast, 
and  correct  as  regards  everything  else.  There  is  no 
taint  of  bastardy  in  its  begetting  and  make-up.  Hav- 
ing sounded  his  sea  of  limitations  and  possibilities, 
our  Japanese  artisan  knows  every  rock  or  quicksand 
in  his  course.  This  accurate  knowledge  of  what  he 
may  or  must  not  do,  joined  to  his  long  attempered 
skill  and  feeling,  his  freedom  from  academic  routine 
and  mechanism  of  study,  by  which  the  brain  may 
profit  in  theoretical  and  scientific  information  but  at 
the  expense  of  skill  of  hand  and  original  invention, 
his  simple  life  and  constant  reference  to  nature,  or 
his  own  imagination  and  taste,  his  perpetual  practice 
and  high  standard,  aesthetic  and  mechanical,  his 
small  wages  and  great  pleasure  in  his  task,  — all  this' 
combines  to  make  him  the  genuine  and  successful 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


173 


artist.  If  there  be  two  things  more  than  others  that 
destroy  and  degrade  art  and  artist,  they  are  extrava- 
gant prices,  and  the  forced  training  of  a hot-house 
system  of  art  education,  chiefly  based  on  the  idea 
of  helping  manufacturers  and  developing  commerce. 
Anything  less  direct  and  true  than  art  for  art’s  sake, 
i.  e .,  enjoyment,  not  gain,  is  certain  to  vitiate  the 
whole  system,  and  bring  it  to  grief  by  destroying  in 
the  people  both  their  knowledge  and  capacity  of  de- 
light in  genuine  art,  and  finally  extinguishing  the 
true  artist. 

Art  is  never  more  beneficial  than  when  adorning 
things  common  and  cheap  in  themselves, 
within  the  reach  of  the  average  buyer,  and 
in  transforming  articles  of  common  necessity  into  sug- 
gestive objects  of  beauty.  In  this  guise  any  indis- 
pensable article  may  become  a missionary  of  art- 
culture  and  propagator  of  refinement  to  the  multi- 
tude. No  race  excels  the  Japanese  in  changing  iron, 
paper,  clay,  and  like  substances  into  things  of  absolute 
artistic  value  and  loveliness,  moulding  and  stamping 
them  by  slight  of  hand  and  cunning  of  invention  into 
the  universal  currency  of  mind,  and  causing  the  crude 
ore,  earth,  or  vegetable,  to  disclose  its  aesthetic  possi- 
bilities. Examine  the  plastic  skill  displayed  in  some 
of  the  humblest  of  forms,  as  for  instance,  a cup  or  ves- 
sel fashioned  out  of  clay  and  made  as  light  and  grace- 
ful as  the  segment  of  a soap-bubble,  with  an  indented 
edge  or  side  given  by  an  apparent  accident  or  careless 
touch  of  finger  yet  true  to  life,  and  with  curves  cal- 
culated to  a hair’s  breadth,  strong  and  tough,  and  or- 
namented with  faintest  relief  of  plants  or  insects  so 
delicately  and  accurately  modeled  as  to  seem  to  be 
fossil  impressions  ; and  this  cup  or  vessel  counterfeit- 


174  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


ing  so  well  the  hue  and  texture  of  finest  bronze  as  at 
first  handling  to  deceive  the  senses  as  to  its  material ! 

The  skill  shown  in  modeling  in  various  substances 
the  forms  of  nature  in  a seemingly  sponta- 

Iron-work.  . . . . J , , 

neous  manner  is  surprising,  as  is  also  the 
ingenuity  in  suggesting  new  ones.  Perhaps  no  one 
common  article  is  made  to  undergo  the  felicitous 
transformation  of  a servile  use  into  a precious  work  of 
art  more  agreeably  than  the  ordinary  iron  or  clay  tea- 
kettle. The  latter  in  endless  variety  are  sufficiently 
cheap  and  common,  but  those  of  wrought  and  chis- 
eled iron  are  v^ry  rare  and  seem  to  point  to  a lost 
skill,  or  else  some  part  of  the  country  of  which  we  have 
as  yet  but  little  information.  Here  is  a remarkable 
one  beside  me.  Compact,  strong,  handy  for  daily 
use,  rough  of  general  aspect  and  texture  of  metal,  but 
bearing  aloft  a silver  and  gold  inlaid  handle,  with 
dainty  sprigs  of  early  vegetation,  whilst  the  solid 
sides  show  in  lowest  relief,  as  fine  in  outline  and  cut- 
ting as  Greek  gems,  water  plants  and  birds,  with 
every  minute  organic  detail  exquisitely  finished,  the 
latter  looking  quite  alive  and  ready  to  step  out  of 
their  atmosphere  of  metal  into  our  breathable  ether. 
The  sense  of  animated  life  is  indeed  so  strong  in  the 
birds  and  the  plants  that  one  banishes  forever  any 
idea  of  a base  use  of  the  tea-kettle,  and  consigns  it  to 
the  companionship  of  the  finest  art,  royally  knighted 
at  the  sovereign  hands  of  beauty. 

Pottery  is  especially  the  art  of  the  people  on  ac- 
count of  the  abundance  and  cheapness  of 
Sr  the  earths  of  which  it  is  made  and  the  ease 
of  modeling  their  pastes  into  any  required 
shape.  Besides  being  well-nigh  a universal  art,  it 
was  the  first  exercised  by  men.  How  far  back  it 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


175 


dates  in  Japan  is  unknown ; but  porcelain  faience  of 
some  sort  was  made  previous  to  our  era,  although  not 
perfected  until  very  much  later,  perhaps  not  before 
A.  D.  1212,  when  a potter  named  Katosiro-ouye-mon, 
and  the  Buddhist  monk  Tigen,  came  back  from  China 
with  the  secrets  of  the  manufacture  in  that  country, 
which  they  had  adroitly  mastered. 

The  decorative  arts  of  China,  Corea,  and  Japan,  are 
so  co-related  that  it  is  not  easy  always  to  China, Corea, 
distinguish  between  them.  In  the  outset  andJaPan- 
there  existed  a certain  similarity  of  conditions  and 
motives  tending  to  similar  results.  Besides  these 
equalizing  agencies,  there  must  have  been  a regular 
exchange  of  products,  perhaps  of  artisans,  and  many 
articles’  undoubtedly  were  made  in  all  three  countries 
after  common  models  and  patterns.  But  notwith- 
standing so  many  causes  operating  for  the  fusion  of 
their  national  styles  into  one  great  homogeneous  one, 
or  to  their  utter  confusion,  the  latent  principles  and 
idiosyncracies  of  the  Japanese  were  ever  getting  up- 
permost. It  is  easier  to  detect  what  in  motive  and 
style  is  indigenous  to  Japan  than  to  decide  whether 
the  object  is  made  in  one  country  or  the  other,  be- 
cause of  the  emigration  of  workmen,  or  their  clever 
imitations.  Propinquity  and  trade  further  promoted 
a mixture  of  their  respective  arts,  just  as  later, 
when  European  commerce  was  restricted  to  Holland, 
the  Dutch  took  to  manufacturing  bastard 
Japanese  porcelains,  flooding  the  markets  anese  porce- 
witli  them,  whilst  the  Japanese  themselves, 
stimulated  by  commissions  from  Europe,  adapted 
many  of  their  own  wares  to  the  vagaries  of  their 
foreign  customers.  These  mongrel  Dutch  and  Japan- 
ese porcelains,  although  prized  by  bric-a-brac  dealers, 


176  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


and  frequently  sold  at  high  prices,  are  outside  of  my 
inquiries.  They  are  not  genuine  Japanese  art  and 
they  have  little  or  no  aesthetic  value.  Indeed,  most 
frequently  quite  the  reverse.  The  greater  portion  of 
this  spurious  art  is  hopelessly  ugly,  useless,  and  inane. 
Rarely  does  it  exhibit  any  noteworthy  beauty  of  tint, 
enamel,  or  extra  technical  virtues  of  paste,  whilst  as 
to  its  general  design  there  is  nothing  to  admire. 

In  all  old  countries  there  is  found  a class  of  expen- 
sive monstrosities,  experimentive  failures  or 
monstros-  artistic  eccentricities  greatly  affected  by  col- 
lectors, but  which  in  reality  are  the  mere 
garbage  of  art.  The  sooner  all  of  them  are  broken 
up  •the  better.  But  the  passion  for  collecting  often 
degenerates,  like  that  of  making  money,  into  senseless 
hoarding,  — quantity  more  than  quality  becoming  the 
incitement.  This  is  altogether  a different  pursuit 
from  an  intelligent  search  for  the  beautiful  in  art,  or 
for  articles  to  illustrate  the  history  of  any  particular 
branch  of  production.  Most  values  as  regards  dealers 
are  determined  by  the  scarcity,  difficult  workmanship,  * 
or  some  intrinsic  quality  of  the  material,  without  any 
reference  to  artistic  or  aesthetic  features  of  the  thing 
itself^or  else  by  the  caprices  of  transitory  fashions. 
Elaborate  oriental  carvings  in  jade  or  rock-crystal 
are  excessively  dear,  but  of  small  account  in  art. 
Some  of  the  most  desirable  objects  in  an  artistic  view, 
of  Japanese  make,  are  both  common  and  cheap,  being 
the  ripe  fruit  of  long-cultured  aesthetic  intuitions 
without  a taint  of  vulgar  merchandise  in  their  consti- 
tutions. 

The  folly  of  collecting  without  sound  aesthetic  judg- 
Coiiec tors’  nient  is  often  shown  in  prices  obtained  at 
follies.  noted  auctions,  especially  in  London,  where 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


177 


recently  from  thirty  thousand  to  upwards  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  have  been  given  for  dainty  bits  of  mere- 
tricious painting  on  porcelain,  panels,  and  furniture, 
by  Boucher  and  contemporary  painters,  or  for  sets  of 
Sevres  mantel  ornaments,  because  they  were  once  the 
property  of  a mistress  of  a defunct  “ Most  Christian 
Majesty ; ” their  intrinsic  value  not  being  more  than 
a few  hundred  dollars  either  in  an  artistic  or  tech- 
nical estimation. 

Amateurs  with  more  money  than  perception  can 
commit  these  follies  with  immunity  as  re- 
gards their  own  pockets,  but  the  effect  is  to  ties  of  ama- 
sadly  mislead  the  public  in  its  estimate  of 
art-objects.  How  shall  any  one  justify  paying  the 
price  of  a substantial  dwelling-house  or  a gallery  of 
good  pictures,  for  a few  frail,  ill-shapen,  and  worse 
composed  pieces  of  Dresden  or  Sevres  porcelain,  their 
only  merit,  besides  fineness  of  pdte,  being  some  sleight 
of  design  or  prettiness  of  hue,  which  the  first  rose  we 
gather  or  sky  we  look  up  at  makes  us  altogether  for- 
get, if  not  despise.  True,  the  flower  fades  and  the  sky 
becomes  cold  and  drear,  whilst  the  porcelain  toy  still 
smiles  complacently  in  its  borrowed  plumage  and 
counterfeit  charms.  But  even  then,  with  its  undying 
simper  and  mock  finery,  is  it  worth  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, not  to  speak  of  guineas,  when  for  a hundredth 
part  of  its  cost,  a rational  amateur  may  buy  equally 
as  fine  tints  in  better  forms,  decorated  so  as  to  sug- 
gest or  exhibit  what  is  true  and  comely  in  nature,  or 
stimulate  in  himself  wholesome  emotions  and  senti- 
ments, instead  of  encouraging  what  is  unseemly  and 
preposterous  as  art.  For  instance,  let  us  examine 
some  of  the  cheaper  Satsuma  ware  as  now  made  in 
regular  tea-sets  to  suit  the  foreign  market,  and  which 
12 


1T8  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


are  far  from  being  the  best  examples  of  this  particular 
branch  of  terra-cotta  and  porcelain  faience.  The  cups 
and  saucers,  light  as  feathers,  are  moulded  into  grace- 
fully irregular  forms  as  if  made  out  of  the  broad  leaves 
of  an  aquatic  plant  resting  on  their  coiled  stems  be- 
neath. All  over  the  fragile,  soft,  creamy  yellow  and 
almost  imperceptible  craquele  glaze,  the  artisan  scat- 
ters patches  of  finest  gold-dust  like  tiny  constellations 
or  star-atoms,  and  throws  into  the  intervening  spaces 
in  colors  rivaling  their  own  and  with  simple  truth- 
fulness of  design,  birds,  insects,  reptiles,  or  flowers,  be- 
stowing on  the  whole  vessel  an  animation  of  real  life 
in  keeping  with  its  leaf-like  organic  forms,  extreme 
delicacy  of  substance  and  taste  characterizing  the  en- 
tire thing,  the  larger  articles  of  the  set,  suitably  varied, 
being  constructed  on  the  same  decorative  principles. 
Just  as  Nature  never  makes  two  things  perfectly  sim- 
ilar, but  always  in  accord  with  its  species,  so  our 
Japanese  workman,  constantly  keeping  her  work  in 
view,  produces  his  harmoniously  diversified  art,  and 
cheapens  it  also  to  its  extreme  limits  that  it  may  ad- 
minister to  the  multitude  as  well  as  to  the  wealthy. 

How  different  his  results  and  system  of  work  from 
The  •vitality  the  mechanically  fabricated  wares  of  Europe 
d in  common  use,  with  their  stark  and  stiff 
why.  purpose,  unsoftened  by  aesthetic  ingenuity, 
staring  in  all  its  prosaic  nudity  into  the  eye,  and  tor- 
menting the  palate  with  unmitigated  sensations  of 
fleshly  appetites,  in  lieu  of  sending  the  fancy  roving 
amid  the  pleasant  scenes  of  nature  and  leading  it  a 
willing  captive  into  dream-land  ! Even  in  their  least 
expensive  things,  the  Japanese  paint  and  mould  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  life  as  if  they  loved  to  see  both 
alive  and  enjoying  their  existence  in  their  own  spon- 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


179 


taneous  ways,  instead  of  showing  them  inert ; por- 
traits of  dead  or  confined  and  lifeless  specimens  of 
either  kingdom,  toiletted  into  a prim  boudoir  grace, 
glistening  with  the  cosmetics  of  the  palette  and  sug- 
gestive of  decay  and  corruption  beneath  ; or,  as  cut  or 
plucked  flowers,  torn  from  their  native  beds  to  be 
daintily  ribbon-tied  and  posed  as  models,  wilting  their 
free  life  away  in  artfully  arranged  charms  and  forced 
fragrance,  like  so  many  frail  beauties  avariciously 
awaiting  the  toyings  of  their  mercenary  ravishers. 
The  body-flavor  of  the  naturalistic  phase  of  Japanese 
decoration  is  particularly  sound  and  wholesome.  To 
child  or  philosopher  its  honesty  and  truthfulness  make 
up  a simple  aesthetic  diet  which  leaves  behind  no 
qualms  of  moral  or  intellectual  indigestion,*  and  is  at 
once  pleasurably  stimulating  and  suggestive  to  all  the 
mental  and  corporeal  faculties. 

There  is  a quality  of  thin  glazed  Satsuma  terra-cotta, 
aptly  called  4 4 difficult  ware,”  from  the  care  satsuma 
required  in  its  fabrication.  It  is  quite  novel 
in  idea  and  very  effective  in  decoration  ; consisting  of 
a relief  in  hard  porcelain  of  highly  colored  flowers, 
birds  and  kindred  subjects,  scattered  on  a subdued 
background  as  to  hue  but  often  emphasized  by  gold 
hatchings  of  the  more  brittle  and  lighter  majolica  or 
a coarser  terra-cotta  material.  The  difficulty  is  in 
combining  the  several  sorts  of  paste  into  a perfect  and 
harmonious  whole.  But  in  putting  porcelain  reliefs 
of  all  degrees  of  fineness  and  beauty  of  design  on  the 
less  solid  terra-cotta  foundation  and  uniting  them  in 
baking  so  that  each  retains  its  appropriate  glaze  and 
materiality,  and  fit  perfectly  together,  the  Japanese 
workman  is  an  adept.  This  unique  ware  gives  one 
an  enlarged  notion  of  the  aristocratic  possibilities  of 


180  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  democratic  clay  and  its  plastic  scope  when  manip- 
ulated by  sympathetic  fingers  guided  by  inventive 
taste.  By  a light  touch  here,  a dainty  pinch  there,  a 
twist  and  a toss  elsewhere,  forms  are  evolved  which 
almost  rival  old  Venetian  glass  in  versatile  lightness 
and  grace ; whilst  the  painter,  on  his  part,  pours  over 
them  neutral  or  positive  tints  in  homogeneous  disarray, 
like  the  spontaneous  growths  of  nature,  and  over  these 
in  raised  porcelain  he  adds  the  fairest  and  brightest 
objects  of  earth,  the  whole  forming  a picture  fadeless 
and  indestructible  except  by  brute  force. 

The  finest  Satsuma  perfume  vases  are  models  of 
Perfume  delicious  body  coloring,  resembling  purest 
vases.  cream  in  tone,  or  the  Soft  quality  of  an  in- 
fant Mongolian  skin,  embodied  in  a vitreous  craquele 
glaze  so  minute  that  the  unaided  eye  hardly  observes 
its  web-like  tracery.  A wealth  of  buds,  blossoms, 
flowers,  intertwining  plants  and  vines  as  free  and 
elegant  as  if  growing  in  their  own  soil,  and  attired  in 
their  best,  is  scattered  over  them  with  utmost  delicacy 
of  arrangement,  amid  belts  of  flying  golden  mist,  like 
the  fleecy  glamour  of  sky  of  a moist  summer’s  day  and 
bordered  by  circlets,  at  base  and  top,  of  rich  diaper 
or  other  conventional  designs.  Sometimes  these  vases 
are  constructed  in  two  dome-shaped  stories,  the  up- 
per and  smaller  one  fitting  into  the  open  top  of  the 
lower,  in  a ring  supported  by  a species  of  porcelain 
net-work  in  the  shape  of  inverted  acute  arches,  giving 
additional  constructive  lightness  to  the  whole,  and  re- 
calling the  general  motive  of  Arabic  architecture. 
The  top  also  has  similar  perforations,  whilst  the  big- 
ger dome  below  displays  windows  or  perforations  of 
still  more  eccentric  shape,  the  spaces  between  all 
these  openings  being  filled  with  scroll-work  in  gold. 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL.  181 

Handles  and  feet  of  grotesque  but-  not  unpleasing 
heads  or  masks,  complete  the  vase. 

There  is  another  form  of  vase  of  this  same  tender 
ware  still  more  elegant,  of  somewhat  heavier 

° Examples  of 

paste  and  more  compact  glaze,  with  a deeper  fine  craqueie 
and  more  regular  craqueie,  almost  forming 
geometrical  lines,  and  not  dissimilar  to  the  common 
characters  of  the  Japanese  alphabet  as  their  acci- 
dental fissures  meet.  In  shape  it  is  very  like  the 
“ Forty  Thieves’  ” jar  of  the  Oriental  tales,  or,  saving 
its  grotesque,  dog-headed  knobs  with  false  rings  as 
suggested  handles,  more  classical  in  outline  than  is 
common  to  see  in  Japanese  pottery.  But  its  chief 
and  most  delightsome  peculiarity  is  the  wreaths  or 
circles  of  mingled  leaves,  flowers,  grasses,  and  branches, 
globes  one  might  say,  for  in  variety  of  shape  and  size 
they  resemble  the  planets  as  projected  in  astronomi- 
cal maps,  only  these  are  floating,  and  seemingly  re- 
volving each  on  its  own  axis,  in  creamy  ether,  around 
the  majolica  firmament  on  which  they  are  painted. 
Some  are  soaring  in  free  space.  Others  are  touching 
slightly,  or  eclipsing  one  another,  all  self-sustaining, 
resplendent  in  color,  a few  of  the  flowers  being  in 
raised  porcelain  of  a whitish  hue,  answering  to  seas  or 
mountains  in  the  planetary  sphere,  as  they  catch  and 
reflect  the  light.  Whenever  any  creamy  space  of  the 
foundation  color  is  left  within  these  flower-globes, 
it  is  dotted  with  fine  gold  points  forming  nebulous 
clusters  of  irregular  shapes,  balancing  and  making 
more  harmonious  the  larger  but  somewhat  subdued 
masses  of  gold,  usually  in  the  form  of  leaves,  that  in- 
terblend with  the  greens,  purples,  whites,  blues,  and 
crimsons  of  the  larger  flowers  and  fruits  on  the  edges 
of  the  bouquet  circlets. 


182  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Still  another  vase  of  this  manufacture  merits  atten- 
The  spout  tion.  Its  form  is  simply  a segment  of  a pipe 
vase-  or  spout  five  inches  in  diameter  and  about 
fifteen  inches  high,  a daring  but  successful  experi- 
ment of  shapes  as  treated.  The  craqueld  is  exceed- 
ingly minute,  the  glaze  very  thin,  the  paste  heavy  but 
porous,  and  the  color  almost  like  premium  spring 
butter.  But  what  most  distinguishes  it  is  the  breadth, 
boldness,  and  general  character  of  the  ornamental  de- 
sign, which  is  of  the  vigorous  Hoffksai  school ; the 
figures,  birds  and  vegetation,  being  laid  on  with  a re- 
markable artistic  dash,  action,  and  sense  of  vitality 
that  are  very  epic  and  stirring  in  effect,  and  quite  the 
opposite  of  the  lyrical  sentiment  and  delicacy  of  hand- 
ling of  the  other  specimens. 

Craquele  ware  merits  a word  by  itself.  It  is  of  re- 
mote origin,  there  being  allusions  to  it  in 
craquefe  Chinese  writings  as  early  as  the  second  cen- 
tury before  our  era.  Very  likely,  however, 
the  earliest  specimens  were  of  stout  majolica  rather 
than  hard  porcelain,  and  were  accidentally  produced 
by  the  shrinkage  of  the  paste  in  the  oven,  as  com- 
monly happens  to  cheap  pottery,  splitting  the  pellu- 
cid surface  into  curious  spaces,  with  divisions  or  fis- 
sures that  resembled  spiders’  webs,  or  the  polygonal 
masonry  of  Cyclopean  architecture. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  these  delicate  tracings  being 
found  to  be  to  the  taste  of  amateurs,  the  potters  sought 
out  processes  by  which  hard  porcelains  that  are  not 
liable  to  such  changes  in  baking,  should  be  made  to 
acquire  similar  fissures  in  their  enamel  and  receive 
diverse  forms  and  colors.  To  do  this  it  was  only  nec- 
essary to  expose  the  hot  vessel  suddenly  to  cold,  or 
dip  it  into  water  and  immediately  fill  the  cracks  with 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


183 


the  desired  tints.  This  reads  easy  enough  ; but  as  the 
ancient  ware  of  this  character  always  commands  ex- 
travagant prices  in  China  and  Japan,  a thousand  ounces 
of  silver  being  sometimes  paid  for  a choice  specimen 
in  the  latter  country,  and  even  more  in  the  former, 
it  is  probable  that  much  skill  and  many  failures  were 
necessary  to  make  a perfect  article. 

I have  a craquel^  vase  or  bowl  of  Japan,  of  heavy 
porcelain,  of  a soft,  creamy  warm  gray,  with  dark  fis- 
sures forming  blocks  of  pellucid  enamel  of  the  shape 
of  the  stones  in  the  walls  of  the  Pelasgic  citadels  of 
ancient  Italy  and  Greece,  terminating  in  a purplish- 
black,  wide  rim,  with  a narrow  belt  of  the  same  color 
a little  below  it,  forming  a sort  of  hoop  to  the  vessel. 
The  bulge  narrows  as  it  descends,  and  has  in  it  four 
horses  in  various  movements,  forcibly  drawn,  and  in  a 
low  relief  of  clear  white  and  deep  blue  porcelain, 
which  not  being  craquel^  like  the  rest  of  the  surface, 
makes  the  whole  bowl  a marvel  of  technical  necro- 
mancy. Some  of  the  craqueles  are  extremely  minute 
and  delicate  in  outlines,  but  their  beauty  lies  chiefly 
in  the  purity  of  their  tones  and  color,  and  translu- 
cence  of  their  substance. 

Tea  being  the  common  beverage  in  Japan,  tea-pots 
figure  noticeably  in  its  art.  Those  sturdy  Tea-pots  and 
Dutch  galliot-shaped  models,  associated  with  SSon!S 
the  earliest  reminiscences  of  our  grand-  beverase* 
mothers,  suggesting  only  scalding  drink,  and  hot  but- 
tered cakes,  in  Japan  would  be  considered  as  boors, 
wholly  unfit  for  good  society.  Here  the  gustatory 
function  is  thrown  entirely  into  the  background  by 
ornamental  disguises  which  bestow  a specific  idealism 
on  even  so  unpretending  an  article.  These  Japanese 
do  have  a wonderful  knack  of  getting  some  poetry  out 


184  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


of  every  use  and  substance,  and  lifting  common  tilings 
into  an  elevated  atmosphere  of  sensations  and  thought. 
Tea  drank  from  fine  old  China,  notably  those  deep, 
clear  blues  of  conventional  designs  fenced  in  by  Greek 
fret,  of  shallow  curves  and  graceful  dips,  and  which 
must  be  handled  with  graceful  touch  when  lifted  to 
the  lips,  has  its  flavor  improved  by  an  occult  sympa- 
thy with  the  beauty  of  the  cup  itself.  This  sort  is 
rare  now,  having  been  rudely  jostled  aside  by  vulgar 
and  pretentious  imitations  of  European  parentage,  of 
awkward  lines,  pot-bellied  curve,  and  grenadier  di- 
mensions, hideous  in  hue  and  drawing.  England  and 
Holland  both  fail  in  trying  to  catch  the  diaphonous 
tones  of  the  oriental  blues  of  every  shade,  which  so 
content  the  eye  by  their  quiet  harmony,  and  whose 
effect  on  the  temperament  is  as  soothing  as  the  cour- 
teous deportment  of  the  “ old  school  ” gentleman. 

Easel  paintings  are  not  found  in  Japan,  unless  we 
Easel  pic-  admit  into  this  category  recent  attempts  to 
tures.  imitate  ours,  all  which  are  striking  failures, 
as  are  also  our  experiments  in  their  line.  Innovations 
on  either  side,  by  which  the  practice  of  the  one  is 
guided  by  the  principles  of  the  other,  have  a common 
result.  Either  system  must  be  kept  to  itself,  intact, 
or  wholly  abandoned.  There  can  be  no  happy  mix- 
ture of  the  antipodal  elements  of  Oriental  and  Euro- 
pean art,  or  subordination  of  one  practice  to  the  other, 
although  we  may  largely  gain  by  studying  their  fun- 
damental principles  and  acquiring  a knowledge  of  their 
materials  and  technical  secrets.  Minturn,  and  the 
keramic  factories  at  Worcester,  in  England,  Barbe- 
dienne,  Dech,  and  Collinet,  of  Paris,  and  some  other 
of  the  chief  art  manufactories  of  Europe,  of  late  have 
pushed  invention  and  adaptation  in  this  direction  as 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


185 


far  as  they  could  go.  But  every  direct  Imitation, 
whether  of  shape,  color,  or  design,  although  striking 
by  itself  in  some  instances,  and  tolerably  successful, 
aesthetically,  as  an  independent  object,  shows  a sensi- 
ble inferiority  in  these  primary  aspects,  and  in  material 
qualities,  when  put  along  side  of  the  original  European 
article  which  inspired  it.  There  is  a more  o“  Japanese 
successful  issue  to  the  adoption  of  Japanese  work' 
ideas  and  technics  in  wall-papers  and  wood-engraving, 
indicating  the  paths  which  European  industrial  art 
should  follow  to  profit  by  oriental  examples.  Japan- 
ese art,  as  a whole,  is  making,  as  it  deserves,  a deep 
impression  on  the  artistic  mind  of  Europe  ; not  as  an 
ephemeral  fashion,  but  from  conviction  of  its  definite 
merits  in  many  essential  points,  and  inexhaustible 
capacity  of  conferring  enjoyment  to  sensitive  tastes. 
Formerly  the  Dutch  sent  their  crude  designs  to  Japan 
to  be  transferred  to  porcelains  by  the  native  arti- 
sans, often  no  doubt,  to  their  infinite  disgust.  How 
heartily  vexed  they  would  have  been  could  they  have 
foreseen  that  a century  or  two  later,  this  fictitious  and 
mongrel  work  would  be  criticised  in  Europe  as  of  their 
own  invention.  Owing  to  similar  mercantile  ruses, 
some  of  the  art  fashions  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  the 
styles  in  vogue  even  later  in  France,  must  have  crept 
into  contemporary  Japanese  art.  But  Japan  is  now 
taking  the  ideal  Christian  revenge  of  returning  good 
for  evil,  or,  at  all  events,  giving  us  the  choice  between 
the  legitimate  and  bastard  work. 

Although  the  Japanese  possess  no  easel-art,  their 
painted  majolica  and  porcelain  dishes,  plates,  or  flat 
bowls,  are  sometimes  so  elaborately  and  porceiain 
beautifully  executed  as  to  deserve  framing  J^dShes!* 
and  be  hung  on  walls  as  a substitute.  The  etc* 


186  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


most  skilled  artists  are  employed  on  them,  and  their 
compositions  are  not  inferior  in  color  and  design  to 
the  best  of  their  alburns.  There  is  a class  of  common 
and  cheap  repetitions  made  as  ordinary  merchandise, 
but  I do  not  include  it  in  this  category.  The  stand- 
ard of  the  genuine,  artistic  work,  although  greatly 
varied  in  style  and  material,  in  different  provinces, 
is  remarkably  uniform  as  to  excellence,  whether 
the  substance  be  bronze,  lacquer,  iron,  the  precious 
metals,  clay,  finest  porcelain,  or  coarsest  terra-cotta. 
Motives  and  treatment  are  of  the  same  character  as 
those  of  the  printed  albums.  In  fact,  dish,  book,  box, 
utensil,  whatever  is  thought  worthy  of  festhetic  bap- 
tism, is  held  to  deserve  equal  skill  and  attention. 
The  inevitable  joke  frequently  finds  place  ; also,  sub- 
jects borrowed  both  from  high  and  low  life,  religion, 
demonology,  and  tradition.  There  is  seldom,  almost 
never,  any  conscious  morality  or  latent  meaning  in- 
fused into  these  compositions.  Perhaps  nowhere  is 
similar  art  left  more  entirely  free  to  its  own  proper 
purpose  of  bestowing  supreme  aesthetic  satisfaction. 
If  there  be  any  one  noteworthy  outside  element,  it 
is  the  mixture  of  fun  and  superstition  without  big- 
otry, which  seemingly  likes  to  supplement  sensuous 
enjoyment  or  artistic  apprehension  with  a laugh. 

An  “ accomplished  and  lucky  tea-kettle  ” is  a favor- 
Demon  tea-  topic  for  the  draughtsman.  This  useful 
other6 uten-  article  has  more  qualities  than  we  dream  of 
Sl18,  in  our  philosophy.  It  puts  forth  the  heads 

and  limbs  of  a badger,  covers  itself  ’with  fur,  dances 
on  tight  ropes,  and  becomes  a facetious  gymnast,  prac- 
tical joker,  or  reckless  tormentor ; sometimes  a re- 
warder of  merit  or  punisher  of  vice  ; but  always  the 
most  amusing  of  goblins,  according  to  its  caprice  or 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL.  187 

affection  for  its  owner.  Other  articles,  too,  become 
bewitched  by  spiteful  sprites,  that  bring  all  sorts  of 
misfortunes  on  those  who  weakly  yield  to  their  be- 
guilements. 

The  amount  of  gross  machinery  of  a materialistic 
ritualism  on  the  one  hand,  and  a benumbing 

. Perversion 

skepticism  on  the  other,  render  it  questiona-  ofjeUgioua 
ble,  in  view  of  the  simplicity  and  spirituality 
of  the  aboriginal  faith,  whether  Japan  has  been  sub- 
stantially benefited  by  the  introduction  of  Buddhism 
and  Confucianism.  Both  of  these  religions  vary  some, 
because  overlain  with  a deep  deposit  of  irrelevant 
dogmas,  rites,  and  irrationalities  of  diverse  origins, 
hindering  mental  progress,  and  burying  out  of  sight 
those  pure  principles  which  first  gave  them  any  valid 
claim  on  men.  Possibly  Shint6ism,  if  left  alone, 
would  have  done  no  better.  Men  of  all  races  are 
ever  prone  to  try  to  appease  their  religious  doubts 
and  placate  their  self-created  deities  by  barren  words 
and  profitless  ceremonies,  and  to  seek  relief  from  the 
uncertainties  and  mysteries  that  encompass  them,  and 
which  are  inseparable  from  their  verv  exist- 

. , . . . v . . Debase- 

ence,  m demoralizing  practices,  asceticisms  mentof 

,.  _TT  motives. 

or  sensualisms.  We  must  admit  that  the 
art  of  Japan  has  a full  share  of  motives  derived  from 
the  debasement  of  all  of  the  national  creeds.  Still, 
in  a large  degree,  it  always  kept  a healthful  hold  on 
nature,  and  never  quite  forgot  the  essential  spirit 
of  its  earliest  faith.  Art  everywhere,  as  it  foregoes 
its  belief  in  dogmatic  heavens  and  hell,  and  fetiches 
of  every  variety,  naturally  falls  back  on  its  earliest 
loves,  nature  and  humanity.  Broadened  by  the  freer 
spirit  of  modern  investigation  and  cosmopolitanism, 
it  opens  to  itself  a wider,  more  intelligible  and  sym- 


188  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


pathetic  field,  even  if  for  the  moment  one  less  ab- 
stractly profound  or  mystic. 

Without  accepting  the  religious  motives  of  any  art 
as  matters  of  belief,  we  may  nevertheless  get 

The  whole  . ’ J 

world  akin,  great  satisfaction  out  of  them,  because  in 

by  its  art.  ° . . 

each  there  is  certain  to  be  a touch  oi  some- 
thing that  makes  the  whole  world  one  country.  If, 
however,  reason  is  compelled  to  flatly  protest  against 
the  special  motive  throughout,  there  comes  a draw- 
back to  aesthetic  contentment,  inasmuch  as  the  unity 
of  sensations  and  sentiments  requisite  for  perfect  en- 
joyment is  rudely  shaken.  Two  adverse  mental  con- 
ditions are  aroused.  That  which  is  rationalistically 
dominated  either  by  belief  or  disbelief,  is  sure  to  push 
the  aesthetically  sensuous  side  of  human  nature  to  the 
wall,  or  utterly  confuse  it,  so  that  the  mind  is  not 
always  able  or  prompt  to  discriminate  between  the 
aesthetic  qualities  of  a work  and  its  other  features. 

If  this  one-sidedness  of  judgment  be  true  of  Prot- 
estants as  regards  Romanists,  it  holds  equally 

Sectarian  ~ . c . 1 J 

judgments  good  ot  both  these  classes  of  sectarians  re- 

one-sided.  0 _ f ... 

garding  all  outside  religious  art,  which  is  in- 
vidiously lumped  into  the  one  word  Pagan.  Skeptics 
and  free-thinkers  of  all  peoples,  on  their  part,  regard 
all  priestcraft  and  its  art,  Christian  or  pagan,  as  a 
hindrance  to  the  rightful  development  of  humanity, 
and  are  least  drawn  of  all  towards  phases  of  art 
which  presume  a supreme  basis  of  divine  intuition 
and  revelation.  But  cultivated  minds,  no  matter 
what  they  believe,  or  how  they  worship,  can  enjoy 
objects  that  appeal  to  them  solely  from  their  artistic 
merits  and  general  assthetic-  qualities.  All  art,  there- 
fore, which  has  for  foundation  the  common  truths  and 
principles  of  nature  and  human  life,  with  its  daily 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL . 


189 


facts,  loves,  and  passions,  its  poetry  and  its  prose, 
the  wide  field  of  matter  and  idealization  open  alike 
to  all,  helps  fraternize  peoples  otherwise  of  antago- 
nistic ideas  and  interests.  Whichever  race  contrib- 
utes most  to  this  enjoyable  union  deserves  well  of  all 
others. 

Adepts  in  the  manufacture  of  fine  porcelain  and 
majolica  of  every  grade,  the  Japanese  dis-  Methodsof 
play  marvelous  freedom  of  inventive  design 
within  the  limits  of  a generic  taste  or  style.  lalus' 

It  is  not  easy  to  decide  whether  the  charm  of  these 
wares  depends  more  on  the  translucence  of  the  enam- 
eling with  its  lovely  gradations  or  tones  of  pellucid 
white,  gray,  brown,  pink,  or  red,  rarely  green,  afford- 
ing frequently  on  the  same  dish  a delicious,  subtle 
scale  or  chord  of  foundation  coloring,  or  the  graphic 
force  and  delicate  execution  of  the  superimposed  com- 
positions, often  broken  up  into  separate  pictures  with 
interposed  patterns  or  borders  in  diaper,  mosaic,  ara- 
besques, and,  as  it  were,  vocal  interludes  of  birds, 
animals,  flowers,  and  vegetation,  or  titbits  of  land- 
scapes seen  through  open  spaces  in  walls,  and  richly 
decorated  draperies  and  screens  in  golden  scroll-work. 
From  the  description  it  might  seem  that  their  style 
of  decoration  is  overdone,  and  even  barbarous.  But 
in  reality  it  is  most  delightsome  because  of  its  bril- 
liant harmony  and  endless  combinations,  contrasts, 
meanings,  and  surprises.  As  compositions,  thej'  pos- 
sess the  charm  of  wit,  variety,  novelty,  and  ceaseless 
flow  of  spirit  in  conversation.  The  mind  is  constantly 
stimulated  to  healthful  action  and  enjojmient.  Ow- 
ing to  the  translucence  of  the  glazes  and  the  soft- 
ness of  their  tints,  the  eye  looks  into  them  as  into  the 
atmosphere,  and  does  not  come  to  a complete  stand- 


190  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


still  like  motion  against  a rock,  as  it  does  against  the 
more  opaque  and  harder  vitreous  surfaces  of  Euro- 
pean porcelains,  with  their  positive  body-coloring, 
harsher  tints,  and  general  sense  of  materiality,  bur- 
dening our  aesthetic  faculties  with  a consciousness  of 
manufacture  and  the  substances  employed,  so  that 
the  object  itself  possesses  scarcely  other  interest  than 
a merely  mechanical  or  shop  one,  whilst  the  endless 
unvaried  repetitions  of  the  same  thing  or  pattern 
finally  produce  satiety  and  disgust.  The  one  is  a 
mere  toy  of  the  fancy,  at  the  best  a cleverly  executed 
artifice  as  to  decoration  and  ingenious  scientific  man- 
ipulation, having  nothing  to  say  to  the  intellectual 
faculties  and  scarcely  moving  the  sensuous.  The 
other  conceals  its  material  organization  in  its  aesthetic 
expression,  just  as  a sweet  smile,  or  the  significant 
look  of  a manly  or  lovely  face  discloses  at  once  its 
moving  spirit  and  lets  us  see  into  the  soul’s  kingdom. 
But  there  must  be  an  infinite,  indefinable  something 
which  governs  the  body  to  cause  this  phenomenon. 
It  is  precisely  because  Japanese  porcelain  of  the  best 
decorated  character  has  a soul  so  far  superior  to 
its  coarse  material  substance,  interpenetrating  every 
pore  of  its  artistic  body,  that,  — if  I may  be  allowed 
to  compare  small  things  with  great,  — like  finest 
music,  it  lifts  a sensitive  aesthetic  temperament  into  a 
kind  of  quiet  ecstasy  or  fullness  of  enjoyment,  which 
makes  all  criticism  for  the  time  superfluous. 

Even  more  than  other  Orientals,  the  Japanese 
u f ^ comprehend  the  full  value  and  limitations 
of  gold  in  decorative  art.  We  are  afraid  of 
it,  esteem  it  showy,  garish,  vulgar;  which  is  true  as 
we  employ  it  in  our  ostentatious,  staring  fashion, 
always  either  cold  and  repulsive  in  tone  like  dead 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


191 


flesh,  or  a vexing  glitter,  neither  of  the  shades  in 
common  use  being  the  pure  tones  of  the  metal  itself. 
Besides,  we  really  do  not  well  know  what  to  do  with 
gold  unless  to  spend  it,  hoard  it,  put  it  on  our  per- 
sons, or  in  a monotonous  way  as  gilding  on  things 
which  have  no  real  affinity  for  it,  and  if  they  have,  in 
a style  which  neither  becomes  it  nor  them.  Barba- 
rous methods  all,  more  or  less. 

Now  examine  how  the  Japanese  employ  it,  through 
every  gradation  of  tone,  from  dull  bronzes  to  bril- 
liant masses,  as  hatchings,  bars,  diapers,  stripes,  dots, 
mists,  clouds,  scrolls,  arabesques,  geometrical  patterns, 
broad  masses,  high  and  low  lights,  in  costumes,  fig- 
ures, flowers,  in  fine,  every  conceivable  variety  of 
decorative  design,  ‘whether  as  supplemental  form  or 
color,  always  judiciously  balanced  and  opposed,  giv- 
ing to  each  object  a vital  look,  changeable,  too,  just 
as  sunlight  and  shadow  affect  nature,  alternating  its 
expressions  from  pure  and  simple  realistic  truths  to 
profound  or  mystical  subtleties  of  suggestion,  accord- 
ing as  the  eye  and  mind  catch  the  passing  look. 
They  understand  the  psychological  correspondence  of 
gold  with  mind  and  nature  as  well  as  its  material 
relations.  Hitherto,  having  had  little  use  for  it, 
either  as  coin  or  jewelry,  they  have  lavished  it  on 
furniture,  pictures,  and  objects  they  dearly  love  and 
admire,  in  solid  form  or  by  gilding  with  unrivaled 
delicacy  of  workmanship  and  understanding  of  its 
occult  properties  and  practicable  possibilities,  thus 
divesting  it  of  all  sordid  purposes  and  raising  it  from 
a base  bondage  to  human  covetousness  to  administer 
to  human  delight  in  those  shapes  of  beauty  which  are 
a perpetual  consolation  and  delight. 

One  of  the  most  simple  kinds  of  majolica,  in  the 


192  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


forms  of  ordinary  domestic  vessels,  has  raised  designs 
Porcelain  porcelain  of  flowers,  animals,  and  other 
terra-cotta  natural  objects  in  their  appropriate  color- 
or  majolica.  ing?  on  a finely  glazed  surface  of  one  uni- 
form, low  neutral  tint,  which  sets  off  the  superim- 
posed ornamentation  in  a very  effective  and  agreeable 
manner.  They  are  so  inexpensive  that  the  humblest 
cottage  can  have  within  it  in  days  of  gloom  and 
storm,  when  all  outward  nature  is  eclipsed,  cheering 
rays  of  sunlight,  song  of  birds,  fragrance  of  flowers 
and  other  artistic  reminders  of  familiar  out-door  pleas- 
ures, true  to  nature  and  with  more  of  the  real  feeling 
of  normal  life  and  growth  in  them  than  can  be  found 
in  the  costliest  productions  of  Sevres  or  Saxony.  As 
regards  genuine  artistic  worth,  they  are  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  the  more  curious  craquele  vases,  remarkable 
for  their  technical  ingenuity,  antiquity,  and  perfection 
of  body-tinting,  and  for  which  the  native  Japanese 
collectors  frequently  pa)r  thousands  of  dollars,  their 
usual  color  being  a rich  dark  gray. 

The  red  or  Kiyoto  wares,  made  at  the  Godijiozaka 
Red  or  Ki-  potteries,  with  coral-like  designs  on  a creamy- 
yoto  wares.  wfi^e  body,  with  the  slightest  perceptible  in- 
fusion of  crimson  or  pink  not  deeper  than  the  downy 
flush  of  an  infant’s  cheek,  in  texture  suggesting  one,  no 
two  dishes  having  precisely  the  same  tone,  are  exceed- 
ingly beautiful.  The  human  figure  is  largely  used  in 
the  decoration  of  the  ancient  ware,  of  which  the  modem 
is  only  a cheap  and  coarse  imitation,  handsome  by  it- 
self, but  when  seen  beside  the  old,  undeserving  special 
attention.  Of  the  latter  I have  before  me  a remark- 
able specimen.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a flat  round  dish 
of  a foot  in  diameter.  On  the  inside  rim  there  are  de- 
picted forty-four  elders  seated  in  a circle,  evidently  an 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


193 


academy  of  wise  men  discussing  a mysterious  scroll 
with  owl-like  seriousness.  The  variety  of  expression, 
posture,  and  gesture,  the  delicacy  and  accuracy  of  the 
drawing,  and  the  beautiful  relief  more  implied  than 
given  by  the  subtle  gradations  of  the  red  tones  of 
color,  make  up  an  inimitable  work  of  art,  gravely  and 
largely  conceived,  yet  spiced  with  a touch  of  quiet 
humor.  On  the  outside  and  the  bottom  of  the  dish 
inside,  there  are  vigorous  drawings  in  glowing  red 
and  burnished  gold  of  the  national  dragons  of  China 
and  Japan,  distinguished  by  the  different  number  of 
their  ferocious  claws.  Perhaps  this  dish  was  made  in 
commemoration  of  an  international  stance  to  decide 
some  knotty  question  of  international  law  or  philos- 
ophy. 

My  pet  dish,  however,  comes  from  another  manu- 
factory with  an  undecipherable  mark.  It  is 
made  of  an  extremely  solid,  heavy  porcelain, 
of  a dull  white  tone  and  somewhat  coarse  surface, 
with  its  rim  broken  up  into  diversified  arabesques 
alternating  with  triangular  scroll-work  in  black,  red, 
and  gold,  and  narrow  blue  borderings.  There  is  a 
wild  luxuriance  of  morning  glories  and  other  clinging 
flowers  rambling  over  rocks  on  the  inside.  From  one 
of  the  vines  there  hangs  a spider’s  web  from  which 
the  insect  is  letting  itself  down  by  spinning  a thread 
in  its  usual  deliberate  way.  A black  cat  with  a red 
ribbon  on  its  neck  turns  its  back  to  it  with  well  coun- 


The  cat  dish. 


terfeited  indifference,  while  its  companion,  a spotted 
one  similarly  adorned,  is  steadily  watching  the  ap- 
proaching insect  with  a craft  superior  to  its  own, 
magnetizing  eyes,  claws  nervously  disposed  for  the 
fatal  spring,  and  mouth  watering  with  anticipation 
of  the  final  crunch.  These  cats  are  drawn  in  the 
13 


194  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


best  style  of  the  Hoffksai  school.  Gold  is  used  instead 
of  color  on  some  of  the  leaves,  and  liberally  in  the 
high-lights,  giving  a species  of  brilliant  musical  in- 
tonation as  accompaniment  to  the  gem-like  decoration 
and  the  naive  realism  of  the  motive. 

In  Yedo  there  is  an  association  of  artists  devoted 
Yedo  school  s°lely  to  painting  on  porcelains  and  majolica, 
onporSers  receiving  from  the  various  manufactories  in 
lam-  the  provinces  their  objects  in  biscuit-form, 
which  they  decorate  and  prepare  for  the  market. 
This  practice  renders  it  somewhat  difficult  to  localize 
wares,  although  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  each  foun- 
tain-head has  its  trade-marks  and  specific  style.  The 
extremely  delicate  semi-faience  known  as  Satsuma 
comes  directly  from  the  works  of  the  prince  of  the 
same  name,  situated  near  Kagosina.  However,  ex- 
cellent imitations  are  made  by  the  potter  Sampei  in 
the  department  of  Miodo.  Nagasaki  ware  resembles 
the  Kiyoto,  but  is  lighter,  less  richly  decorated  and 
can  be  distinguished  by  its  blue  medallions  or  spaces 
let  into  the  body-color.  But  the  most  highly  prized 
porcelains,  such  as  are  seldom  to  be  found  in  trades- 
men’s stocks  or  amateur’s  collections,  come  from  the 
Hitzen  factories. 

I have  a large  Yedo  bowl  of  massive  semi-porcelain 
which  admirably  illustrates  the  severely 
grand  manner  of  this  school  of  decorators. 
It  is  of  elegant  proportions  and  wide  flare,  of  an  in- 
digo-blue on  the  outside,  with  milk-white  high  reliefs 
of  ocean  surges,  tossing  jets  of  sinuous  spray  breaking 
into  pearl  drops  into  the  blue  empyrean,  through 
which  fly  in  giddy  whirl  in  single  file  round  the  upper 
edge  of  the  bowl  a flock  of  the  “ holy  birds those 
sacred,  winged  beings  which  symbolize  human  happi- 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


195 


ness  and  longevity.  The  vase  itself  seems  to  spin 
round  in  keeping  with  their  rapid,  revolving  flight, 
each  with  a different  and  forcible  movement,  suggest- 
ing a cosmic  spectacle  in  the  dawn  of  creation.  In- 
side, this  scene  is  repeated  in  flat  with  reversed  colors, 
as  if  the  shadows  of  the  birds  outside  struck  through 
the  intervening  clay,  and  repeated  the  motive  in  an 
even  more  mystical  sense,  giving  the  appearance  of 
the  gradual  disappearance  of  the  storks  into  the  infi- 
nite, whence  they  had  come  to  do  the  bidding  of  their 
Creator  in  the  service  of  man. 

Here  is  another  example  of  Yedo  porcelain  of  a 
much  finer  paste  and  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 

• • Yedo  vase 

tury,  ornamented  in  the  purest  naturalistic 
style.  It  consists  of  a lower  globe,  flattened  at  top 
and  base,  in  which  rises  a much  smaller  and  flatter 
one,  supporting  a wide-spreading  top,  equal  in  height 
and  double  the  diameter  of  its  supports,  the  combi- 
nation forming  a singularly  novel  and  gracious  vase. 
The  limpid  whitish  enamel  is  speckled  with  faint  gold 
bars  and  hatchings.  A narrow  upright  ridge,  carry- 
ing in  red  the  old  Grecian  fret-design,  protects  the 
broad,  shallow  lip  or  mouth,  inside  which  are  branches 
of  fruit-laden  and  blossoming  trees  of  raised  enamel, 
sheltering  birds  of  brilliant  plumage.  The  convex 
side  of  this  palm-like,  drooping  mouth,  is  decorated 
with  wreathlets  of  rarest  flowers  and  blossoms,  inter- 
twined and  interspersed  amid  flecks  and  bars  of  faint- 
est gold,  caressing  the  milk-like  porcelain,  as  if  they 
were  so  many  flying  kisses  from  Flora’s  fragrant  lips, 
or  suggesting  unseen  fairies  sporting  in  the  white 
pasture  and  tossing  aloft  their  tiny  garlands. 

Separated  by  a narrow  red  band,  the  lesser  globe 
is  broken  up  into  a raised  enamel  sea,  lashed  into 


196  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


dense  blue  and  foam-white  fury  by  a typhoon,  amidst 
the  wrathful  waves  of  which  sports  with  ominous  joy 
the  demon-like  dragon,  supreme  lord  of  its  destruc- 
tive powers,  golden-eyed,  crimson-bellied,  with  back 
green-spotted,  horns  erect,  and  hideous  countenance 
bright  with  malicious  imaginings  and  ferocious  in- 
tent : strange  contrast  to  the  poetical  fancy  and  type 
of  Nature’s  sweetest  gifts  and  most  peaceful  moods 
below,  and  a wilderness  of  luxuriant  vegetation  of  an 
Eden-like  growth  on  the  convex  side  of  the  upper 
portion  of  the  vase. 

I commend  thus  heartily  the  keramic  wares  of 
Keramic  Japan  because,  besides  their  positive  artistic 
SaL  merit,  they  are  comparatively  inexpensive, 

qualities.  To  an  amateur  who  is  not  enamored  of  ex- 
pensive technical  qualities  and  elaborate  workman- 
ship alone,  or  the  excessive  rarity  so  precious  to  anti- 
quarian eyes,  they  afford  an  ample  field  of  selection 
from  which  to  gratify  his  aesthetic  longings  at  prices, 
which,  taking  into  consideration  only  their  real  beauty, 
variety,  skill  of  fabrication,  and  taste  in  decoration, 
are  beyond  competition  in  the  kindred  works  of  any 
other  people.  Fine-art  may  be  cheaply  produced  if  a 
people  only  know  that  costliness  is  by  no  means  its 
indispensable  quality.  The  real  point  is  to  secure 
truth  and  beauty,  be  their  cost  little  or  much.  No 
nation  solves  this  problem  more  facilely  and  com- 
pletely than  the  Japanese.  Specimens  of  this  kera- 
mic industry  are  brought  to  Europe  and  sold  for  a 
few  dollars,  or  at  the  most  a few  pounds  sterling  each, 
which  both  in  their  mechanical  and  artistic  execution 
are  superior  to  objects  of  the  same  materials  made  in 
the  most  renowned  potteries  of  Europe  costing  ten, 
and  sometimes  a hundred-fold  more.  In  cultivating 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


197 


his  taste  the  collector  should  make  artistic  beauty  his 
first  and  chief  guide,  heedless  of  considerations  as  for- 
eign to  it  as  uncut  leaves,  misprints,  omissions  or  re- 
dundancies, the  number  of  the  copies  extant,  quality 
of  the  paper  or  type,  or  any  of  those  artificial  features 
which  make  up  a bibliomanist’s  delight,  are  to  the 
merits  of  the  literature  itself.  As  a general  rule,  one 
should  not  look  twice  at  any  of  the  pseudo-artistic 
objects  made  in  Europe  and  sold  cheap,  for  in  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  a hundred  they  are  not  worth  the 
glance ; whilst  in  J apan,  whenever  the  European  prac- 
tice has  not  overpowered  the  native,  the  reverse  holds 
good.  There  is  something  in  almost  every  object 
made  on  the  old  principles  of  their  art-workmanship 
to  interest,  for  the  Japanese  took  too  broad  a view  of 
it  to  confine  the  good  and  tasteful  only  to  costly  arti- 
cles and  make  whatever  was  aesthetic  and  refining  ac- 
cessible solely  to  the  wealthy  classes.  Far  from  this  ! 
Like  the  ancient  Greeks,  — and  I cannot  repeat  it 
often  enough,  — beauty,  after  their  kind  bear  in  mind, 
was  the  first  consideration,  be  the  object  common  or 
uncommon,  destined  for  poor  or  rich  ; the  best  the 
thing  could  bear  or  the  artisan  give,  and  at  smallest 
cost,  was  the  aim.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  main 
principle  with  us  is  to  make  an  article  expensive,  as 
ladies  esteem  their  toilettes  according  to  the  maker’s 
bills,  heaping  up,  not  artistic  treasure,  which  is  more 
often  comprehended  in  inexpensive  simplicity,  but  bur- 
densome labor  of  hands  and  a confusing  plethora  of 
material  and  design. 

For  a brief  period  still  it  may  be  possible  to  obtain 
good  and  cheap  things  in  Japan,  but  their 

. . . , . Fine  work 

master  pieces  oi  a costly  character  are  less  dying  out  ia 
plentiful  than  we  were  led  to  imagine  when  Japau* 


198  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


the  overturn  of  the  feudal  system  and  consequent  im- 
poverishment of  many  noble  families  led  to  the  dis- 
persion of  their  artistic  treasures.  The  Japanese 
themselves  now  say  it  is  easier  to  find  their  best  works 
in  Europe  than  in  their  own  country.  Without  doubt 
they  will  yearly  become  more  difficult  to  obtain  any- 
where, on  account  of  their  absorption  into  museums 
and  notable  collections. 

The  best  art-period  in  China  is  that  of  the  Ming 
dynasty,  from  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth,  and 
periods  in  which  also  corresponds  with  the  Japanese. 

The  movement  was  a complex  as  well  as 
universal  one,  and  evidently  led  to  a partial  eclecti- 
cism among  all  the  races  interested  in  Asia  and 
Europe.  How  else  can  we  account  for  the  not  infre- 
quent traces  of  intermixture  of  forms  and  designs  to 
be  seen  in  their  ornamental  art,  while  their  motives 
are  as  widely  apart  as  ever?  Some  of  the  Japanese 
and  Chinese  bronzes  have  either  an  unmistakable 
classical  or  renaissant  cachet;  others  Hindoo  and 
Indian.  Here  is  a vase  whose  graceful  outline  savors 
strongly  of  Greece  or  Italy,  whilst  the  ornamental  re- 
lief is  purely  Asiatic.  An  inscription  on  the  bottom 
reads  u Dynasty  of  the  Great  Ming  Emperor  Siian 
Tsung  ; title  of  his  reign  Siiam  Te  ” — equivalent  to 
A.  d.  1426-1485. 

The  facility  with  which  bronze  and  metals  gener- 
ally are  wrought  into  plastic  forms  is  on 

Metal-work.  **  ^ ^ 

a par  with  the  skill  shown  in  clay.  They 
manage  to  implant  into  these  hard,  inflexible,  unelas- 
tic substances,  particularly  bronze,  those  vital  quali- 
ties which  most  prominently  characterize  organic  life  ; 
as,  for  instance,  softness,  flexibility,  elasticity,  repose, 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


199 


action,  expression,  — that  is  to  say,  tlieir  semblance 
to  a degree  that  excites  in  the  spectator  a psychologi- 
cal consciousness  or  reflection  of  these  phenomena,  so 
that  the  particular  object  suggests  live  and  not  inert 
matter  to  his  senses.  Particular  examples  of  this 
subtle  force  of  vitalization  infused  into  metals,  are  to 
be  seen  in  the  vegetation,  birds,  animals,  and  figures 
generally,  which  decorate  those  quaint,  antique,  com- 
plicated vases,  half-architectural  and  half  built  up 
after  the  natural  growth  of  the  mineral  and  vegeta- 
ble kingdoms,  wholly  sui  generis , prodigiously  realis- 
tic in  design  and  action,  and  yet  not  without  certain 
poetical  significance,  or  profound  associations  with  the 
laws  and  forces  of  nature.  The  stealthy  creeping  and 
serpent-like  movement  of  spine,  silent,  elas- 

1 m Bronzes. 

tic  tread,  magnetic  gaze  and  half-pause,  and 
half  oscillation  of  body  of  tigers  as  they  make  their 
way  through  yielding  foliage  or  over  sun-burnt  rocks 
in  quest  of  prey,  are  magnificently  given.  Every 
portion  of  the  cold  metal  glows  with  the  excited  sus- 
pense of  anticipated  movement.  Equally  elaborate 
modern  ones  are  now  made  at  Owada  ; but  with  less 
truth  of  nature,  more  caprice  of  design,  intricate  and 
costly  ornamentations  in  silver  or  gold,  and  more 
labor  expended  on  high,  superficial  finish,  than  on 
the  accuracy  of  form  and  vital  action  which  distin- 
guished the  old  work. 

An  old  artist  was  able  to  turn  a piece  of  bronze 
into  a leaf-shape  cup  with  a stem-handle  so  real- 
looking  as  to  suggest  the  impromptu  art  of  a thirsty 
boy  drinking  from  his  vegetable  cup  at  the  first  spring 
he  finds.  Frogs  with  their  young  on  their  backs,  or 
snakes  attacking  and  swallowing  them,  their  whole 
natural  history  clearly  legible  on  their  ugly  frames, 


200  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


are  not  less  naturally  rendered.  How  superbly  pa- 
tient the  old  herons  stand  on  one  leg,  sleepily  await- 
ing their  marine  prey,  and  how  nicely  the  artist  poises 
his  tall-legged  bird  on  the  broad  leaf  of  an  aquatic 
plant,  with  every  part  of  its  delicate  anatomy  admira- 
bly delineated,  its  stem  serving  as  the  handle  to  the 
whole  ; nature  and  invention  in  masterly  accord,  and 
the  art  so  simple  and  true  that  you  involuntarily 
anathematize  all  those  clumsy  castings  of  storks  which 
are  now  done  to  foreign  orders,  to  the  degradation 
and  ruin  of  the  native  art,  and  in  themselves  horrible 
enough  to  drive  the  splendid  ancient  birds  to  commit 
suicide  ! Grand  and  venerable  grues,  resplendent  in 
their  clear,  dark  patina,  which  was  long  supposed  to 
be  a cunning  varnish,  but  modern  chemistry  has 
found  it  is  a pure  bronze  of  eighty  parts  copper,  four 
tin,  two  zinc,  and  the  remainder  lead,  which  last  as- 
sures the  exquisite  polish.  But  these  noble  birds  bid 
fair  to  be  as  effectually  exterminated  as  was  the  dodo, 
and  as  soon  will  be  the  prairie  buffalo. 

The  grandest  statuettes  of  ancient  Japanese  bronze 
t that  I know,  are  two  demi-gods,  or  warriors, 

markable  whose  figures  I have  not  been  able  to  find  in 

ancient  ° . 

statues  in  any  album,  or  to  see  their  counterparts  in 
demi  gods  or  any  public  or  private  collection.  Ihey  are 
of  massive  antique  bronze,  of  a rich,  lustrous, 
dark  brown,  excessively  solid  and  weighty,  and  stand 
upright  on  bowlders  of  irregular  rock,  dotted  with 
cryptogamous  plants.  The  total  height  is  three  feet 
four  inches,  their  figures  being  in  proportion  short  of 
six  heads.  But  they  have  powerful  muscular  devel- 
opment and  Herculean  frames,  small  hands  and  feet, 
fine  features,  massive  throats,  large  craniums,  and  deep 
chests,  all  indicating  prodigious  strength  and  ample 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


201 


brain  power.  Highly-wrought  fillets  of  metals  hold 
back  their  luxuriant  hair,  and  set  it  up  in  flame-like 
masses  above  their  heads,  giving  to  them  a demoniacal 
majesty.  Each  is  clad  in  strong  armor  to  below  the 
waist,  and  flowing  from  underneath  it  as  sleeves 
and  skirts,  there  are  rich  stuffs,  in  the  one  violently 
agitated  and  blown  out  by  a strong  wind,  and  in  the 
other  hanging  in  heavy  folds,  both  taking  graceful 
curves  and  forms.  Buskins  cover  their  feet,  and  trou- 
sers of  thick  ornamental  stuffs,  tied  at  the  knees,  pro- 
tect the  legs.  Over  their  hips  there  are  overlapping 
coats  of  mail  of  the  most  ponderous  make.  Tightly- 
drawn  silk  cords  gird  in  the  waist,  whilst  lightly  flow- 
ing scarfs  give  an  air  of  grace  and  lightness  to  the 
whole  body.  A wave-like  beard  adorns  one  of  their 
chins,  and  the  other  is  smooth-shaven.  Its  possessor 
holds  upright  in  his  right  hand  a double-edged  scep- 
tre-like sword,  in  an  attitude  of  a military  salute, 
whilst  his  left  hand  is  closed  with  the  two  forefingers 
extended  in  a warning  or  derisive  manner.  His  atti- 
tude is  serenely  self-reliant,  omnipotent,  defiant,  and 
concentrated  into  reposeful  expectation.  The  equally 
stalwart  companion  grasps  in  both  hands  a long  hal- 
bert-shaped weapon  with  a double  movement  of  pre- 
pared attack  or  guard  ; his  huge  frame  poised  on  the 
right  foot,  and  the  left  drawn  backwards  in  support, 
every  limb  in  lithe  tension,  ready  for  any  effort. 
The  contrast  between  the  watchful  quiet  of  the  war- 
rior of  the  sword,  and  the  implied  vigorous  action  of 
the  latter  figure,  is  magnificent.  Each  is  perfectly 
balanced  on  the  precise  moment,  so  precious  in  Greek 
art,  when  complete  repose  is  to  be  transformed  into 
supreme  effort,  and  the  mind  pausing  as  the  pose 
takes  in  at  one  glance  a whole  history. 


202  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


The  sculpturesque  details  and  general  breadth  of 
modeling  are  Michael-Angelesque,  particularly  the 
masks  on  the  shoulders,  which  fasten  together  the 
breast  armor,  and  as  wholes,  keeping  in  view  their 
special  types  and  motives,  these  statues  can  chal- 
lenge comparison  with  best  classical  and  mediaeval 
work.  Lastly,  their  faces  are  irradiated  with  laugh- 
ter, lips  apart  disclosing  irreproachable  teeth,  one 
figure  mockingly  with  its  silver  eyeballs  turned  up- 
wards with  sinister  derision,  whilst  the  opponent’s 
eyes  are  jovially  wide-open,  looking  directly  forward, 
and  his  features  convulsed  with  honest  merriment ; 
both  affording  contrasts  of  features  as  significant  in 
expression  as  in  attitudes  of  bodies.  The  material 
qualities  of  the  bronze,  color  and  execution,  are  alike 
exceptionally  fine,  and  the  infusion  of  vital  force  into 
the  dead  metal  unsurpassable.  It  seems  actually  to 
ripple  with  the  emotions,  and  be  alive  with  the  deep 
constrained  intent  of  the  two  actors  of  an  unknown 
drama.  Possibly  they  are  the  guardians  of  the  next 
world ; if  so,  they  are  far  handsomer  and  more  genial 
than  the  ordinary  effigies.  Apparently,  they  are  fif- 
teenth century  workmanship.  One  has  an  inscrip- 
tion or  ciphers  in  old  characters. 

There  was  a family  called  Goroza  as  specially  adept 
Th«  family  1 n all  metal  work  as  Cellini  was  in  Italy, 
the^eiiiais  an(l  whose  skill  was  transmitted  through 
of  japan.  njne  successive  generations  of  artists  ; a fact 
without  known  parallel  in  the  art-history  of  any  other 
country. 

But  it  would  require  many  volumes  to  adequately 
describe  the  noteworthy  objects  of  this  branch  of  art- 
cioisonnfe  industry  alone.  We  will  now  glance  at  the 
enamels.  cloisonnd  enamels,  another  form  of  metal- 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL . 


203 


work,  which  is  already  well-nigh  ruined,  or  at  all 
events  so  degenerated  from  its  best  days  as  scarcely 
to  warrant  mention,  if  judged  solely  by  the  average 
specimens  of  modern  manufacture.  As  nearly  as  I 
can  ascertain,  the  best  were  made  a few  hundred  years 
ago,  and  almost  rival  the  egg-shell  porcelain  in  light- 
ness. They  consist  of  mineral  pastes  of  all  colors,  let 
into  designs  made  by  finest  metallic  lines  and  divisions 
set  on  to  a thin  metal  base  ; the  pastes  being  sub- 
sequently ground  down  to  a perfectly  smooth  sur- 
face and  then  polished.  These  designs  are  largely 
geometrical  and  conventional,  of  infinite  variety  of 
forms,  but  also  of  figures,  flowers,  and  any  natural 
object,  forming  mosaics,  at  times  so  minute  that  the 
unassisted  eye  can  with  difficulty  discern  all  their  in- 
tricate lines  and  patterns.  They  are  kaleidoscopic  in 
variety  and  brilliancy ; but  with  a subdued  splendor 
in  the  best  specimens,  which  recalls  the  lower-toned 
light  of  evening  rather  than  the  effulgence  of  the 
day.  The  diversified  and  beautifully  balanced  forms 
and  tints  are  held  in  their  places  by  dividing  lines  of 
minutest  golden  threads,  and  quite  justify  the  simile 
once  applied  to  them  of  “ star-atoms  ” and  “ crushed 
worlds.”  But  vessels  of  this  description  are  extremely 
rare.  At  least  I have  not  seen  a dozen  in  as  many 
years.  Those  of  a heavier  make,  combining  conven- 
tional and  realistic  patterns,  with  broader  and  more 
striking  masses  of  color,  of  less  refinement  of  inven- 
tion and  construction,  are  not  uncommon.  In  them 
we  have  dragons  and  other  mythical  creations,  of  flam- 
ing tints,  on  background  of  lapis-lazuli  or  indigo-blues, 
spring  greens,  blood-red  crimsons,  delicate  pinks,  or 
dull  whites,  with  geometrical  or  vegetable  borders  to 
correspond,  arabesques  and  diapers,  all  blazing  with 


204  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


gold,  either  as  bounding  lines  or  as  the  stars  in  the 
firmament.  One  of  the  most  striking  of  these  extrav- 
agant but  elegant  compositions,  on  a large  dish,  two 
feet  in  diameter,  is  a large  fish,  apparently  a salmon, 
the  emblem  of  fecundity,  perseverance,  and  strength, 
leaping  up  a high  waterfall,  whose  white  waters  foam 
and  tumble  against  a sky  of  purest  azure,  unrivaled 
in  its  clear  tone,  except  by  the  far-famed  “ blue  of 
the  heavens,”  only  seen  in  perfection  in  the  finest 
Chinese  enamels  of  the  Ming  period.  The  forms  of 
the  cloisonnes  of  either  nation  are  not  remarkable  for 
grace,  except  occasionally  of  general  contour.  Not 
infrequently  they  are  ungainly  and  awkwardly  con- 
structed, sometimes  squat  and  globose,  at  others  pre- 
ternaturally  tall  and  bulbous.  The  vases  are  the  most 
ill-formed,  while  the  bowls  and  dishes  are  of  the  com- 
mon shape  of  such  articles.  Elephantine  and  tortoise- 
like, invariably  bizarre,  as  if  there  were  some  subtle 
correspondence  between  the  constructive  materials 
and  these  qualities  of  their  general  anatomy,  seems 
to  be  the  law  of  their  artistic  organization.  But 
whenever  we  do  find  fine  specimens  there  is  about 
them  an  unmistakable  atmosphere  of  general  loveli- 
ness and  purity  of  tints,  as  cheerful  in  a room,  to  the 
mind’s  eye,  as  are  the  corresponding  colors  of  the 
heavens  to  the  senses  in  the  mellow  light  of  a perfect 
day.  There  is  about  them  a double  sense  of  hope  and 
repose ; an  unceasing  perfume  by  correspondence  of 
whatever  is  symbolically  pure,  innocent,  and  desirable 
in  nature ; a comforting  assurance,  even  if  apocry- 
phal, of  something  sounder  and  better  than  material- 
ity in  store  for  iis  ; an  effect  which  must  be  felt  on 
some  sympathetic  chord  of  our  being  to  be  compre- 
hended, and  which  words  refuse  to  transmit.  A freak 


A 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


205 


of  imagination  ; fancy’s  fire-works,  you  say,  and  I 
will  not  gainsay  it.  But  the  art  that  can  put  any 
mortal  into  a more  hopeful  and  believing  mood  than 
his  usual  one  deserves  well  of  God  and  men. 

Technically  viewed,  perhaps,  the  most  surprising 
achievements  are  to  be  found  in  the  combinations  of 
refractory  or  antagonistic  materials  into  an  aesthetic 
unit  of  perfect  finish  and  harmonious  beauty.  These 
attempts  must  of  necessity  often  fail,  but  when  suc- 
cessful are  miracles  of  artistic  ingenuity  and  manufac- 
turing skill  which  may  well  be  the  despair  Enameie(i 
of  the  European  workman.  I refer  to  those  P°rcelain- 
porcelain  vases  which  are  veneered  with  an  enamel 
of  metal  and  mineral  pastes  fashioned  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  cloisonnes  just  described,  and  so  clev- 
erly united  and  with  such  a homogeneity  of  design, 
as  to  obliterate  as  it  were  all  dividing  lines  of  material 
substance,  giving  to  the  entire  vessel  the  appearance 
of  a simple  whole..  Indeed  it  requires  closest  inspec- 
tion to  detect  where  the  enameling  ends  or  the  por- 
celain begins,  their  several  distinctive  qualities  being 
wrought  into  so  novel  and  complete  a mechanical  and 
aesthetic  agreement. 

Scarcely  inferior  to  them  in  delicacy  and  difficulty 
of  workmanship  are  the  inlaid  silver,  bronze  vases 
with  scroll-work  designs  and  others  borrowed  Inlaid 
from  nature.  Less  complicated  as  regards  8llver- 
substances,  but  more  specifically  artistic  as  regards 
their  aim  and  invention,  they  possess  a velvet-like 
smoothness  of  surface  and  a delicate  patina  which  is 
very  fascinating  to  the  eye  and  touch,  whilst  their 
entire  execution  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  in  this 
species  of  niello-work,  if  we  may  so  call  it  when  it 
consists  of  burnished  silver  let  into  a dark  ground  of 
composite  metal  of  an  equally  high  polish. 


206  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  APT  OF  JAPAN. 


On  no  one  article  have  I seen  a more  lavish  expen- 
diture of  skill  and  taste  than  on  a Koto,  a 
musical  in-  sort  of  lute  or  horizontal  harp  of  thirteen 
strings,  seven  feet  long  and  one  wide,  rest- 
ing at  the  ends  on  very  short  supports,  the  body  curv- 
ing into  an  extremely  flat  arc  and  made  to  be  played 
on  with  the  musician  seated  on  the  floor,  the  fingers 
being  protected  by  ivory  guards.  The  black  lacquer 
box  in  which  it  came,  looking  .not  unlike  a coffin, 
bears  the  arms  of  one  of  the  great  daimios,  Prince 
Haki.  It  is  an  instrument  worthy  of  the  ladies  of 
the  highest  rank.  The  utmost  resources  of  Japanese 
finest  workmanship  and  best  trained  taste  have  been 
freely  given  to  it.  All  the  materials  are  rare  and 
costly.  Its  supporting  pedestals  are  of  minute  Indian 
mosaic  pattern  in  ivory  and  pearl.  The  gracefully 
curving  sides  are  of  low-toned  ancient  lacquer,  with 
flowers  in  gold-dust  and  bronze  ground  set  in  edges 
of  ivory  and  jade,  and  an  intervening  one  made  of 
thinnest  layers  at  a cross-wise  angle  like  the  strands  of 
a rope  of  beautiful  stones,  of  which  there  are  thirty- 
six  in  alternating  layers  of  color  to  each  inch  of  frame- 
work. The  upper  edge,  separating  the  ornamental 
base  from  the  naked,  rich-brown  wood-work  of  the 
Koto  itself,  where  the  strings  vibrate,  is  a continuous 
band  of  inlaid  silver  of  the  Greek  fret  pattern  on 
ebony.  Each  end  of  the  musical  instrument  forms  a 
distinct  portion  or  picture  by  itself,  but  harmoniously 
terminating  the  leading  artistic  motive,  which  evi- 
dently is  to  carry  out  in  most  precious  materials  and 
loveliest  aesthetic  forms  the  ideas  and  sensations  that 
are  embodied  in  sweetest  music.  It  is  impossible  ac- 
curately to  describe  the  beauty  and  fineness  of  the 
decorative  workmanship.  On  a bed  of  tortoise-shell 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


207 


framed  in  mosaic  borders  of  rarest  stones,  ivories, 
metals,  and  mineral  pastes,  cut  so  fine  that  a magnify- 
ing glass  is  requisite  to  clearly  trace  out  all  their  in- 
tricate designs,  there  is  to  be  seen  in  high  relief,  float- 
ing through  the  air,  playing  the  lute,  with  her  rich 
garments  trailing  gracefully  behind  her,  our  old  friend 
Ben-zai-ten-njo,  the  inventor  of  musical  instruments, 
the  accomplished  Queen  of  Heaven  ; and  a beautiful, 
spirited  and  graceful  effigy  the  artist  has  made  of  her, 
with  her  waving  costume  of  ebony  and  gold.  Her 
face,  arms,  and  hands  are  of  highly-wrought  silver, 
of  rare  sculpturesque  expression,  whilst  her  magnifi- 
cent head-dress  is  of  the  richer  metal. 

The  other  end  terminates  in  the  dragon  of  the  ty- 
phoon, Tats-maki,  in  heavy  relief  done  in  gold  ciselure 
exquisitely  wrought  in  a sea  of  silver,  set  in  a precious 
frame  similar  to  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  terminating  in 
the  finest  possible  lacquer-work  with  decorations  of 
various  colors  and  tones  in  flattest  relief.  The  strings, 
which  in  themselves  are  works  of  art,  pass  into  the 
body  of  the  instrument  at  either  end  through  little 
star-shaped  wells  of  silver.  In  fine,  it  is  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  romance,  mystery,  magnificence,  and  va- 
riety of  decorative  splendor  of  the  Arabian  Nights’ 
Entertainments.  The  time,  patience,  nicety  of  touch, 
keenness  of  sight,  and  artistic  invention  displayed 
seem  more  the  work  of  fairies  than  of  human  beings. 
In  absolute  perfection  of  mechanical  execution  it  is 
on  a par  with  its  artistic  excellence,  and  the  imagina- 
tion would  fail  to  conceive  anything  superior,  of  its 
kind,  done  by  the  artisans  of  any  country.  This  is 
strong  talk,  I am  aware,  but  I will  rely  on  the  Koto 
itself  to  maintain  my  words  before  any  jury  of  highly- 
trained  artisans  or  accomplished  artists  which  may  be 
found  in  or  out  of  Japan. 


208  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN. 


Those  who  are  acquainted  with  Japanese  lacquers 
Japanese  only  by  the  ordinary  specimens  of  commerce 
lacquer.  can  form  no  idea  of  the  perfection  of  this  in- 
dustry as  it  existed  two  centuries  since,  or  even  of 
what  can  be  done  to-day  if  specially  called  for.  As 
bases  for  the  lacquer  crust,  ivory,  paper,  metals,  por- 
celains and  other  substances  are  used  besides  woods, 
and  it  is  perhaps  the  commonest  and  cheapest,  as  well 
as  the  dearest  and  most  elegant  of  all  the  methods  of 
decoration.  The  tone  of  the  oldest  lacquer  in  pure 
gold  is  singularly  subdued  and  chaste,  fascinating  to 
the  eye  as  virtue  to  the  mind.  It  exhales  an  atmos- 
phere of  repose  and  contentment,  casting  a spell  over 
the  senses  as  if  they  were  suddenly  let  into  a purer 
sphere  of  sensuous  existence  and  objective  delight 
than  their  common  one.  The  subject-matter  of  the 
finest  lacquer  cabinets  and  cases  is  usually  taken  from 
the  national  histories,  romances,  and  myths,  and  placed 
on  panels  set  into  the  frame  of  the  object.  Sometimes 
the  figures,  done  in  bronze  or  the  precious  metals,  are 
of  miscroscopic  smallness,  but  as  perfectly  modeled 
and  chiseled  as  if  done  by  a Cellini.  Objects  of  nat- 
ural history,  flat  or  in  relief,  are  executed  with  equal 
spirit  and  truth.  But  the  attractiveness  of  best 
lacquer  work  does  not  end  with  the  figure  composi- 
tion. The  body-tones  of  gold  in  which  forms  of  na- 
ture or  curious  invention  in  under  or  higher  tones  of 
light  and  graduated  tints,  come  and  go,  as  the  eye  hap- 
pens to  catch  them,  like  objects  slowly  dissolving  or 
reforming  in  a soft  gentle  haze,  gives  a pleasure  with- 
out alloy,  because  there  is  no  direct  imitation  or  real- 
ism, and  yet  an' infinite,  dream-like  suggestion  of  the 
purest  and  best  bits  of  Nature  in  her  most  poetical 
moods.  When  are  added  to  this  aesthetic  satisfaction 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


209 


an  equal  completeness  as  regards  the  mechanical  finish 
of  the  article,  its  perfect  lustre,  smoothness,  joining, 
and  whatever  else  is  included  in  the  tool-part  of  the 
fabrication,  then  there  is  a double  pleasure  which 
rarely  is  to  be  had  elsewhere  in  like  degree.  And 
this  pleasure  has  a greater  fullness  from  the  absence 
of  any  signs  of  impatience,  manual  toil,  or  defect  in 
handicraft.  Thought  and  labor  are  disguised  in  an 
apparently  spontaneous  action  or  perfection,  such  as  a 
free  Nature  suggests  in  her  best  inspired  moods. 
This  nearness  to,  yet  independence  of  nature,  is  the 
one  fundamental  truth  of  best  Japanese  work  above 
all  others  which  all  foreign  schools  should  strive  for, 
if  they  aim  at  developing  a genuine  decorative  art. 
The  Aryan  races  have  accomplished  great  things  in 
other  forms  of  art,  but  in  this  respect  they  can  still  go 
to  school  with  profit  to  the  “ heathen  Japanese,”  pos- 
sibly the  “ Chinese.” 

I fear  my  descriptions  have  already  wearied  my 
readers,  but  in  conclusion,  permit  me  one 
word  on  the  special  topic  with  which  I be- 
gan my  topic,  viz.,  Japanese  sculpture.  Statuary,  in 
the  European  meaning  of  the  word,  they  do  not  pos- 
sess any  more  than  they  do  easel  paintings  or  fine 
architecture.  But  those  qualities  of  expression,  re- 
pose and  movement,  to  which  we  may  add  character- 
istic form,  which  are  seen  in  the  large  images,  are 
similarly  manifested  in  the  smaller.  This  is  conspic- 
uously exhibited  in  the  finest  ancient  ivory  Iyory  carv_ 
carvings.  There  are  several  that  I have  lng8, 
seen  which  are  models  of  psychological  and  realistic 
truth.  One  is  the  venerable  Shiou-Ro,  the  patron 
deity  of  longevity,  about  ten  inches  high,  carved  out 
of  a fine  bit  of  ivory,  with  his  faithful  grue,  his  head 
14 


210  A GLIMPSE  AT  THE  ART  OF  JAPAN . 


drooping  and  leaning  against  his  master,  who  sustains 
himself  by  the  aid  of  his  tall  pilgrim’s  crook  of  bam- 
boo. The  features  of  the  bird  and  the  long,  silky- 
textured,  white  beard  of  the  old  man,  are  admirably 
cut,  advantage  being  taken  of  the  color-tones  of  the 
ivory  to  emphasize  parts,  aided  doubtless  by  an  almost 
imperceptible  tinting,  whilst  the  flowing  draperies 
show  an  almost  Greek  ease  and  freedom  of  contour. 
This  work  is  inscribed  on  the  bottom,  “ Precious 
Treasure  of  Taka-suki,”  which  was  one  of  the  resi- 
dences of  the  famous  Siogoon  ruler,  Ta’iko-sama,  A.  D. 
1586-1591. 

Another  ivory,  somewhat  taller,  represents  a hunter 
at  the  foot  of  a large  tree  holding  down  with  intense 
muscular  effort  a wounded  wild  boar,  to  which  he  is 
about  giving  the  final  stroke.  His  pet  monkey,  of  a 
most  Darwinian  countenance,  is  leaning  over  between 
two  branches,  holding  up  one  of  the  legs  of  the  beast 
with  the  look,  “ If  I let  go  it  is  all  up  with  my  mas- 
ter,” most  legibly  written  on  his  anxious  semi-human 
face. 

The  third  is  of  a full-armed  warrior  seated  at  the 
base  of  an  upright  rock  in  deep  contemplation,  uncon- 
scious of  impending  danger.  Above  him  a large  ser- 
pent projects  his  head  out  of  a crevice  in  a threaten- 
ing action,  whilst  his  long,  sinuous  body  winds  itself 
in  and  out  of  the  holes  in  the  rock,  twisting  itself 
around  it  so  naturally  as  to  seem  to  be  in  actual 
movement.  The  boar,  snake,  monkey,  and  the  armor 
in  both  these  statuettes  are  effectively  tinted,  and 
each  anatomical  and  organic  detail  accurately  cut 
from  life. 

Who  knows  but  that  Japanese  art  has  now  fulfilled 
its  purpose  and  nothing  remains  to  it  except  to  die, 


DECORATIVE  AND  ORNAMENTAL. 


211 


or  be  transformed  into  something  entirely  different. 
If  this  be  so,  it  can  depart  full  of  honors  and 
with  agreeable  memories.  For  has  it  not  en-  artist  sculp, 
livened  the  lives  and  softened  the  manners 
of  countless  millions  of  men  during  decades  of  cen- 
turies ? And  more ! In  its  very  advent  it  conferred 
a great  boon  on  humanity.  We  read  that  just  be- 
fore our  Christ  came  to  the  earth,  the  sculptor  and 
worker  in  faience  and  porcelains,  Nomino-Soukoun6, 
hearing  of  the  death  of  the  reigning  empress,  hurriedly 
carved  some  images  in  stone,  and  taking  them  to  the 
emperor,  persuaded  him  to  put  them  into  the  tomb 
instead  of  immolating  her  favorite  servants  as  was  the 
custom,  to  wait  on  her  in  the  next  world.  From  that 
time  this  cruel  rite  was  abolished,  and  as  a commem- 
orative distinction,  Soukoun6  ordered  to  change  his 
designation  to 

FASI, 


THE  ARTIST. 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

Lest  my  assertions  in  Section  I.  regarding  the  religious 
toleration  of  Japan,  and  the  final  persecution  and  exclusion 
of  Romanism  as  brought  about  by  its  own  aggressions,  be 
questioned,  and  also  the  peaceful  polity  of  the  government, 
I cite  the  following  extracts  from  the  u Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes”  of  15  July,  1875.  They  are  taken  from  an  able 
article  in  “ Les  Moeurs  et  le  Droit  au  Japan,”  by  George 
Bosquet,  commissioned  by  the  Japanese  government  to 
codify  their  laws  and  introduce  the  study  and  practice  of  the 
Code  Napoleon,  so  far  as  suits  the  exigencies  of  the  coun- 
try. He  began  his  work  by  a profound  study  of  the  his- 
tory, polity,  and  customs  of  Japan,  and  in  the  above  article 
gives  a clear  synopsis  of  their  chief  features : — 

“ Deja,”  he  writes,  “ sous  le  predecesseur  de  Y^yas 
avaient  commence  les  persecutions  contre  le  christianisme 
provoquees  par  V attitude  meme  de  ses  adherens.”  “ De 
toutes  les  religions  c’est  la  seule  qui  soit  exclue  par  les 
Cent  Lois  de  la  tolerance  universelle.”  Page  255. 

“ Le  gouvernment  doit  pour  aider  le  peuple  donner  la 
paix  a l’etat.”  “ Le  considerer  avec  des  yeux  de  mere.” 
Art.  98,  Cent  Lois. 

While  the  European  governments,  acting  on  the  contrary 
principle,  were  decimating  their  populations  and  plunging 
them  into  the  depths  of  untold  misery,  Yeyas,  the  soldier- 
legislator,  and  greatest  man  of  his  country,  brought  to  an 
end  all  civil  dissensions,  and  “assured  to  his  people  two 
centuries  and  a half  of  profound  peace,”  and  this  too  with- 
out destroying  their  martial  spirit  or  weakening  their  indus- 
trial energies. 


214 


APPENDIX. 


In  enumerating  the  virtues  of  the  Japanese  I ought  to 
have  emphasized  more  particularly  that  which  is  next  to 
godliness,  namely,  cleanliness,  and  in  which  they  present  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  Chinese,  with  whom  filth  reigns 
supreme  even  in  Pekin.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  all  visitors 
bear  testimony  to  the  native  politeness  of  even  the  lowest 
classes,  whilst  I am  assured  by  those  who  come  into  contact 
with  the  more  intelligent  and  educated,  that  in  perfect  good 
breeding  and  refined  courtesy  they  excel  the  most  polished 
European  gentlemen ; and  that  cleanliness  is  on  a par 
throughout  with  politeness.  How  long  these  two  virtues 
will  stand  the  strain  now  put  on  them  by  contact  with  for- 
eign manners  and  the  radical  overturn  of  all  their  old  train- 
ing and  ideas,  remains  to  be  seen.  Already  the  public 
which  formerly  prostrated  themselves  in  the  dust  before  a 
daimio,  now  curtly  pass  him  erect  with  uncovered  heads, 
and  are  imitating  the  brusqueness  and  independence  of  not 
the  best  patterns  of  foreign  manners  they  see.  So  rapidly 
is  the  crude  imitation  of  foreigners  extending  to  the  perver- 
sion of  some  of  their  own  admirable  traits,  that  an  imperial 
decree  was  lately  issued  to  recall  to  the  population  of  Tokio, 
some  of  the  most  elementary  rules  of  civility  and  respect 
to  authority. 

A word  regarding  the  Greek  fret.  This  ornament  coming 
first  to  our  notice  in  the  archaic  pottery  of  Greece  and  Etru- 
ria of  700  years  b.  c.,  it  came  to  be  called  Greek  by  distinction. 
Its  origin,  however,  far  antedates  all  Grecian  art.  In  ancient 
Egypt  it  was  the  crux-ansate,  symbol  of  immortal  life.  It  is 
a sort  of  four-footed  cross,  and  always  had  a mystic  signifi- 
cance. In  the  East  and  Japan  it  is  a combination  of  the 
clawed  cross  and  is  a symbol  of  Buddha,  known  as  Swastica, 
or  Sgavistika,  but  it  is  much  older  than  this  religion,  and 
in  the  most  remote  antiquity  passed  as  the  sign  of  happiness. 
Thus  to  the  eyes -of  the  ancients  this  pleasing  ornament, 
besides  its  aesthetic  value,  carried  with  it  a grateful  wish  or 
significance  which  must  of  itself  have  added  an  intellectual 
and  moral  zest  to  the  object  which  bore  it,  quite  independent 


APPENDIX ; 


215 


of  its  artistic  merits,  and  yet  harmoniously  combined  with 
them.  Modern  art  having  lost  all  mystical  language  is  shorn 
of  a large  portion  of  art’s  legitimate  speech  and  influence. 
Hence  its  slight  hold  on  humanity,  and  its  being  relegated 
to  the  functions  of  mere  sensuous  delight  or  intellectual, 
technical  surprise  and  edification,  a far  inferior  position  to 
its  primitive  one. 


II. 

LAND  OF  GREAT  PEACE. 

Japan  was  conquered  by  its  present  rulers  b.  c.  660, 
fixing  their  capital  at  Kyoti.  From  this  period  for  nearly 
2500  years  there  has  been,  so  far  as  I can  learn  in  their 
history,  but  one  foreign  war,  the  brief  and  futile  invasion  of 
Corea  by  Taiko  Sama,  who  reigned  a.  d.  1582-1598. 
During  this  long  period  there  were  feuds  among  the  mili- 
tary clans,  and  for  two  centuries,  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth, 
almost  incessant  civil  war,  until  the  country  was  finally 
pacified  and  the  executive  government  centralized  in  the 
person  and  family  of  Japan’s  greatest  historical  character, 
Iyeyasu,  who  made  Tokio  (Yedo)  his  capital.  His  policy, 
continued  by  his  successors  as  the  shagouns  or  lieutenants 
of  the  Mikados,  maintained  complete  peace  in  Japan  exter- 
nally and  internally  for  nearly  three  centuries,  or  down  to 
their  recent  overthrow  and  restoration  of  the  actual  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  lawful  dynasty.  Nothing,  therefore, 
is  plainer,  as  compared  with  other  countries,  than  that  Japan 
is  justified  in  calling  itself  the  “ Land  of  Great  Peace.” 

Some  writers  fear  that  u in  the  presence  of  the  superior 
aggressive  races  of  the  West,  Japan  must  fall  like  the 
doomed  races  of  America  and  Hawaii.”  (W.  E.  Griffis, 
in  “ North  American  Review,”  April,  1875.)  But  I have  a 
lively  hope  to  the  contrary,  in  view  of  the  profound  appre- 
ciation of  the  constituent  elements  of  a durable  and  lofty  civ- 
ilization displayed  by  the  reigning  Mikado,  his  advisers,  and 
the  press  of  Japan.  The  editor  of  the  “ Choya  Shinibun  ” 


216 


APPENDIX. 


thus  defines  the  basis  of  true  civilization  : “ The  Americans 
and  Europeans  are  enlightened  people,  and  do  not  without 
cause  call  us  semi-civilized.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of 
civilization  ? It  surely  is  not  limited  to  the  possession  of 
fine  houses,  fine  dresses,  and  to  sumptuous  living.  It  is 
not  confined  to  a flourishing  state  of  arts,  of  manufactures, 
or  machinery.  It  means  an  advance  in  knowledge  and  poli- 
tics, a reverence  for  religion,  the  proper  estimation  of  good 
character,  and  the  observance  of  good  customs.’,  Terse 
golden  truths  which  we  Americans  and  Europeans  need 
to  keep  constantly  in  mind  quite  as  much  as  the  Japanese, 
as  a counterpoise  to  an  unscrupulous  devotion  to  mere  ma- 
terial interests.  When  the  resources  of  nations  are  chiefly 
invested  in  “ a good  character,”  then  may  we  be  certain  of 
universal  peace  and  a permanent  material  prosperity,  but 
not  before  ; and  Christian  people  are  indebted  to  a pagan 
press  for  this  reminder  of  the  essence  of  their  own  religious 
morality  as  the  only  sound  basis  of  the  prosperity  they  so 
ardently  desire. 


C\  I 


